


As Fate Would Have It

by PencilWolf15



Series: Eddsworld - Cracked Mirrors [2]
Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Not everything nice happens at Starbucks, Starbucks, They're working at Starbucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-08-12 08:39:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7928131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PencilWolf15/pseuds/PencilWolf15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The rejects of 64 live in relative peace; Thomas, Matty, and Redd all have jobs that make enough for food and rent, and Torm and Scribbs hold down the fort during the day. Despite living with fear nagging at the back of their minds everything seems to be going smoothly...until some robbers decide to make waves, and Redd's boss finds out about their true nature. Seems Fate has some plans for these rejects and their new friend, and not all of them are favorable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Slinging Lattes

**Author's Note:**

> The internal dialogue used to be color-coded, but since I know jack about coding, we'll have to find some way around that
> 
> Internal dialogue is italicized. The various names of Eddsworld crew are used to show just what personality is in control of Redd at the moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just an average, happy day at work for the Tomato

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally supposed to just be a one-shot, but then my sleep deprived minds of many exhausted nights birthed this thing. This is the chapter that is inspired by http://naniroxy.deviantart.com/art/Starbucksredd-602816527

Edd didn’t know about the others, but he was glad they lived only a hop, skip, and a jump from work. It meant that they got to sleep in longer than Thomas and R-Matt, and that they could just run home and grab something in case it’s been forgotten. And besides, Edd enjoyed small talk with other people besides the ones inside him; those ones tended to get into big, useless arguments.

 _Yeah, whatever…_ Tord brushed off the quip from Tom that would easily have turned into a heated internal debate (which would in turn cause a major headache and put a cramp in their work flow) as they walked through the door of the coffee house. The ring of the bell and the smell of espresso hit them as they entered.

“Mornin’ to ya, Redd,” Carlisle, the manager, greeted them, “A few minutes later than usual, I see,” he was sweeping the place up while another employee wiped down the countertop

“Yeah,” Edd replied while slipping on his apron, “Had to wait a speck longer at the crossroads; old lady needed help across,”

“No biggie,” he grabbed the dustpan, “We got a convention in town a block or two over, so expect a little more traffic today,”

“Will we be expecting a lot of sweaty people in bulky costumes then?” Edd remarked as they walked behind the counter. They paused to crack their back

“Not that kind of convention, or so I’m told,” He emptied the dustpan into the rubbish bin, “Who knows, maybe some furry will show up just to be funny, or scornful,” He put the broom and pan in the small janitor’s closet, “Those people are just plain weird,”

The employee that was wiping the countertops, Aubrey, flicked the paper towel in the waste bin behind the counter, “You’re being so judgemental, Carl,” She readjusted her hair tie, “People who enjoy dressing up as something else for a few hours aren’t as bad as the hipsters we normally get. You should know. Hey,” whispering, she poked Edd, earning their attention, “do the voice,”

Edd chuckled, “which one?” he already knew the answer

“The one that sounds like him,”

_Your cue, Tom. Just don’t be too mean._

“How dare you call me judgemental, Aub! I am your boss!” Tom’s voice had a satirical tone to it, earning a giggle from the girl, “Laughter? From my employees?! I will not have it!” Tom adopted a silly pose, chest thrust outward with one hand on the hip and the other pointing at the ceiling. This only made Aubrey giggle more

“Oh hardy har har,” Carlisle rolled his eyes and gave them a little shove, “I do not sound like that,”

“You do sound constantly angry though,” Tom smirked

“I do not, and would you turn off that voice? It makes everything worse,” Carlisle slipped on his own apron

Edd shrugged, “Aubrey found it funny,” said girl smirked

“I didn’t, and I’m the one that hired you. I hope you know what that means,”

“Maybe you should grow a sense of humor and laugh at yourself a bit more. It’s healthy,” Aubrey held a mocking smile

Tom butt back in, “Oh please Aubrey, I do all the laughing I need laughing at the failures of others,”

Carlisle shot them a glare, “Redd…”

Edd put his hands defensively, “Alright, alright; I’ll stop, I’ll stop,” They turned around again, spotting Aubrey trying her darndest not to laugh. The three of them spent the time cleaning up a little bit here and there until the first customer came in; a man in a business suit looking extremely tired. No surprise to anyone he ordered coffee with lots of espresso.

Their shift was after the early morning rush, so their customers were few and far between until lunch began to tick closer. A few people in thick-rimmed glasses and scarves brought in their computers, and after ordering their coffee sat down and haven’t left since. _These confounded hipsters…_

_Aw c’mon, Tord. I think they’ve got great fashion sense. I think we’d be able to pull it off if we wanted to._

_Do you really think I’m upset at their fashion sense? They’ve got the most self entitled attitudes I’ve ever seen._

_Hey, cut it out; we’ve got an order to take_

Their multiple trains of thought grew quiet and Edd snapped back to the present. A girl, maybe in her mid twenties, was rummaging through her purse. She hasn’t looked up yet.

“Can I get a tall latte with an extra pump of mocha, whipped cream, and caramel drizzled over the top? Ah, there you are,” she pulled out her wallet, “also a blueberry scone, an--ah!” She looked up and started, causing a ripple of gasps down the line.

Edd raised an eyebrow, “Is there something wrong, miss?”

“Oh,” she gasped, clutching her blouse, “it’s your eye; it caught me off guard. I apologize,”

“Huh? Oh!” He gave a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry about it, it happens from time to time. I messed up my eye when I was itty bitty and had to have it removed. Used to be ashamed of it but now not so much. I’m so used to it my family jokes I still see out of it,” Edd shrugged as Tom gave a mental kick in the shin. Edd flinched slightly, “Anyways, coming right up, miss,” He prepared her order as Aubrey punched the numbers.

_Really Edd? Really?_

_I thought we agreed that was the story!_

_Not that last part though. Need I remind you about Torm, Thomas, and Scribbs? They have no visible eyes either. No one jokes about anything._

_Like she’s gonna think we were lying_

_True, but…*sigh* it goes against script. We’re trying to maintain the facade that we’re a normal human--_

_But I don’t want to seem like we’re stiff; then it’ll give us away that it’s all just an act_

_Edd, pay attention! That’s too much caramel!_

Matt was right; it wasn’t so much drizzled as the cream was now just saturated with caramel.

_Whoops. Think she’ll still accept it?_

“Order for Hannah!” Edd called out. The girl got up from her seat, picked up her coffee and scone, and walked out perfectly content.

_I guess we got lucky,_

Despite Carlisle’s news earlier, the expected rush of people didn’t happen. The lunch rush passed and the afternoon settled in. Some people from that morning were still there, and Carlisle had to tell them to move along. There were some mutterings, but they packed up and left without much ceremony.

The sun was beginning to stretch the shadows and light crept into the place. Some blinds were shut to a customer’s request. It was a little wait now before the after school/work people came in for their afternoon treat, so there were maybe three or four other people in the establishment, clacking away at their keyboards. Carlisle had retired to his back office to get some paperwork done, and Aubrey had gone home for the day. Jacob was supposed to replace her, but he seemed to be running late...again. Oh well, at least this right now is easy to handle.

They were wiping down the countertop from an earlier spill when the ding of the door opening signaled another customer. Edd looked over his shoulder; an older woman was holding a younger girl’s hand, who looked very shy and uncomfortable.

“Good afternoon, ladies! Just give me a moment,” Edd hurried to wipe up the last of the spill.

“Oh, no rush. I’m mostly just showing Anja here around town,” The name caught Tord’s attention

Edd put the towel to the side and glanced at the girl, “And are you enjoying Essex?” He got no response from her

“Oh, she’s my granddaughter from Norway, she doesn’t speak a lick of English,”

Tord was brimming with excitement. It was a unanimous agreement to let him take the wheel.

“Oh? No English then?” Tord’s voice and accent made Anja look up, eyes full of wonder. He smiled warmly “Og hvordan er du i dag?”

Anja’s face brightened, “Bare fantastisk!”

Tord gave a chuckle, “Fantastisk! Er du nyter England?”

“Å ja! Selv om jeg ikke forstår noe noen sier. Alt er så pen!”

They chattered happily back and forth, Tord giving her a slice of banana-nut bread on the house. She smiled and laughed through her mouth full of pastry, her day made much brighter.

The older lady accompanying her was grinning ear to ear as well, ordering herself some coffee and a scone, “Where did you learn Norwegian? You sound like a natural!”

“A part of my family line comes from Norway, and a good chunk speak it as well,” Tord replied while preparing her coffee, “I grew up speaking both English and Norwegian,” He placed the order on the counter, grinning wide.

“So you can switch between an English accent and a Norwegian accent, I see,” She took a sip

“I have a forkjærlighet for voices and impersonations, maybe it stems from my upbringing,” Tord shrugged, then glanced down at the beaming Anja, “Ha en god dag nå,”

She waved energetically as they were walking out, “ Ha det bra, Herr Redd!” He could see her skipping down the sidewalk until they were out of view. Tord was beaming himself as he slipped back into the backseat

There was a chuckle beside them. Edd whipped his head around to see a smug Jacob leaning against the adjacent counter, “That was adorable,”

Edd felt himself and Tord both blush, turning their cheeks and ears beet red, “Eh,” Edd scratched the back of his head, “just tried to make her feel more welcome. Didn’t see you come in,”

“I’m like a wraith; silent like death--”

“He came through the back door,” Carlisle yelled from his office

“Carlisle!” He called back, unhappy his fun was ruined

“Don’t you be snippy with me, Jay!” Carlisle’s head poked out from the office, “Mr. I-Slept-In-Late-Again. It’s 4:30 in the afternoon!”

“I’m here until we close!” He called back, adopting a pathetic stance, “And then I have to study for my classes!”

“Don’t care!” Carlisle slipped back into the office, “The fact of the matter is you were late to work again. I’ll give you two more times before you’re fired,”

“Buh-!...” Jacob made to retort back, but the words died in his throat. He growled to himself and turned back around...right into the smirking face of his one-eyed coworker. Edd was shoved away, “Oh, sod off, Redd. College is exhausting!”

“Can’t be any worse than living in a house full of people who don’t get along very well,” Edd felt an anxious shock run through their body. _Stick to the script, Edd_

“What? Are you talking about me or are you referring to yourself?

 _In more ways than you know, kid._ “Myself,”

“What is your family life like, anyways? I never hear you talk about it much,” The bell over the door rings.

“Maybe later. We got business to do,” Redd turned to face their next customer: an attractive, dark ginger haired girl with deep green eyes and a pear shaped body. Somebody blushes, making their cheeks turn pink unbiddingly, “Hello there miss. What will it be for you today?”

She doesn’t say much for a little while, eyes wide and mouth open. Edd shifts a little uncomfortably; is this another thing about the eye?

“Uhm,” Edd looks to the side nervously, “I injured my eye as a kid and had to have it removed. It doesn’t bother all that much anym--”

“You’re kinda cute,” she said at last, a flirty expression now on her face, “especially when you’re flustered,”

Edd reeled back a bit, everyone inside of them blushing furiously and causing their entire face and ears to turn a very deep red. They caught Jacob chuckling to himself off to the side, “U-uh. Thanks,” They smiled awkwardly, “y-you too,”

_Oh sweet crumpets, Edd. You have no idea how to handle a flirting girl!_

_Oh, like you can do any better, Matt._

_Why don’t you let me get a few words in? I’d do a better job than you anyways._

_Wait, Matt--!_

Edd was shoved into the backseat as Matt took matters into his own hands (eh, relatively speaking).

The girl chuckled a bit, “So...Redd, I take it?”

“Indeed,” Matt took enjoyment at the surprise on her face when she heard his voice and not Edd’s, “You do look cute flustered,” The girl blushed a little in return

“H-how are you doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“That thing with your voice. It sounds different now,”

“Oh,” they closed their eyes and waved a hand in a dismissive motion, “I can do several voices. It’s fun and it confuses people,”

She raised her eyebrows, “Impressive, and sexy,” She was clearly trying to get them to blush again. Edd definitely was turning their face a bit pink, but Matt wasn’t that easily swayed.

“I could show you more, but not now. You came in here to get some coffee, no? What would you like, miss?”

She smirked, “I’m feeling like a grande decaf Mocha Frappuccino Light, with an almond scone,”

“Perfect. And the name for the cup,”

“Gizelle, with a Z,”

“Well then, Gizelle with a Z, I’ll have your order ready shortly. Jacob here will punch the numbers,” Matt pat the shoulder of a dumbfounded Jacob as he turned around to prepare the coffee.

_So, did I do good?_

_Not bad. She is cute, though_

_I’d tap that_

_Tord no_

_Should we switch back or…?_

_Patience, Edd. Wait until she sits back down or leaves._

They finished the order and called her up. She took her coffee with a flirty stare, which Matt returned. She left a slip of paper on the counter, and when Matt looked back up from it, she had her thumb and pinkie out by the side of her face.

Call me, she mimed and walked out the door. Matt took his cue to let Edd grab the wheel

“How do you do it?” Jacob’s voice startled them, “First it looked like you were gonna blush and stutter into oblivion and then you smooth talk right back at her. You even got her phone number!” Edd picked up the slip of paper, glanced at the numbers scribbled onto it, and pocketed it, “You had to use a different voice for it. Do you have a script or something?”

Everyone clenched up with anxiety, but tried not to show it.

“Like, do you practice in front of a mirror or what?”

“Well…” Edd breathed

**FLAAAAAAAAAAAASH BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!**

They leaned against the old table, one side rotten and puffed up. Thomas had just got a job so hopefully they would be able to replace it soon. They glanced back up at the mirror, heavy cracks breaking and warping the reflection. They sighed, time for a conversation.

“Alright, we gotta come up with a game plan. How would we be able to pass as a normal enough human to snag a job?”

“Uhm, what about my eye? It’s bound to raise a few eyebrows. What should we do about that?”

“Sew it closed,”

“Cark it, commie,” Tom pounded their chest

“Doesn’t look too bad to me. I got memories of seeing eye injuries in the past, and they tend to look worse than what we’ve got,”

“But it’s not an injury, it’s my EYE!”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t look normal. We’re gonna get questioned about it,”

“Maybe an eyepatch?”

“I’d like to keep our depth perception, thank you,”

“Guys, cut it out. I like Matt’s idea,”

:)

“Pretend it’s a wound?”

“Yeah, why not? It happens,”

“Seems logical enough for me. Maybe...we jabbed a fork into our eye as a stupid kid and had to have it removed,”

“I said cark it, you--”

“Tom, cut it out. He’s not doing anything. You’re getting riled up for no reason,”

“Hmpf…”

“Ok, what about...our voices. We need someone up front. It’d be hard to hire somebody who appears schizophrenic,”

“Well Edd, you’re the friendliest of us all. You’d do pretty well as a personality,”

“No way! I vote me! I’m the most charming of us all,”

“If you want to charm a kitchen shelf, maybe,”

“Hey--!”

There was a knock on the door, and before anyone could say anything, the door swung wide open. A very annoyed, tired, most likely drunk, and unshaven Torm stood in the doorway. He squinted at the room light, adding to his expression.

“Can you not do this at 3 o'clock in the freaking morning?” His voice was gravely and tinged with anger, “My room is right there, and you’re really loud,” He leaned against the doorway.

“Sorry, Torm,” They sheepishly muttered out

Torm flipped off their light and closed the door. They could hear him mutter all the way back to his room.

\---------

Edd simply shrugged, “Eh, I guess I do kinda work myself up a bit in my mirror before I come in every day. Helps loads with confidence. Not really used to others flirting with me, especially not cute girls. The eye’s a bit of a deterrent,”

“Hm,” Jacob held up a finger, blocking the blank eye socket of his coworker, “You are pretty attractive, if you don’t mind me saying. You’ve got a strong jawline, a nicely shaped nose, hair’s a bit messy but it’s charming, and your voice is endearing. I’m meaning your normal one, not those impersonations or whatever that you do. Your eye can be a bit startling at first, but after awhile it becomes part of the look,”

Edd paused, blushing slightly, then turned a wary eye towards the boy, “Are you low-key flirting with me?”

Jacob merely smirked

 **SLAM** “HEY YA, TOMATO!!”

The door slamming open and the rough voice shouting made everyone in the store jump a meter out of their skins, everyone inside Redd two meters. There was a man in sunglasses and a red and blue hoodie carrying armfuls of grocery bags, accompanied by a kid with a spiky hairdo whose whole body seemed to shift a lot while walking…? The kid was holding a little stuffed bear.

Carlisle stuck his head out of his office.

Edd tried to slow their racing heart, and pinched the bridge of their nose, “The hell, Torm? Could you try not to cause property damage? Besides, I’m working,”

Torm approached them, smiling his infuriating smile, “What? I can’t see my favorite housemate slash brother while on the job?”

“NO,” There was a hard edge to his voice, “And why do you still have your sunglasses on? We’re indoors,”

\----------

“Hey kid, I may visit you while at work,”

“Fine…” They droned out while glancing through the classifieds

“I’ll most likely be wearing sunglasses when I do, due to...y’know,”

“We do,”

“If ya wanna still appear normal, like you say you do, feel free to pester me about it. It’s the only time I’ll allow you to annoy me, got it?”

“Yeah...Wait,” They looked up, “Where are you getting sunglass--”

Torm was sporting a brand-new(?) pair of shades and a toothy grin. There was grease and various debris sticking all over them

\----------

Torm put his hand under his chin, “Because I look cool with them on,”

Their face was deadpan, “No, you do not. What’s the real reason you almost broke the door and gave everyone a heart attack?”

“We were low on food, and Scribbs was getting antsy, so I went out on the town!” He jiggled the grocery bags, “Your work is right there so I thought I’d swing by and give you a fright,”

“I get enough of a fright living with you. Are you going to ‘cook’ any of that food?”

“Naw, I’m orderin’ a few pizzas when I get back. Too lazy today to attempt a shepherd's pie or whatever,” Torm felt a tug on his hoodie, “Oh, and L’il Scribbs wants to say hi,”

Grinning, Edd leaned over the counter, “What’s up, little man?”

“hOI toMAtO!” the boy grinned wide, “ToME gOt a BEaR!” He held up the stuffed animal he was holding for them to see. The smell hit them and they leaned back a bit

“It’s kinda smelly. Where did you find it?”

“Eh, he saw it in a rubbish bin, grabbed it, and now he won’t give it up,”

“Are you going to wash it when you two get back? It smells worse than you,”

“Har har, and yes. They’re both getting a bath. Cuz they both stinky,” the boy giggled

“Alright. I get off in about...twenty minutes, so I’ll see you two then,”

“Good job. C’mon Tommie,” The boy grabbed the hem of Torm’s hoodie and followed along,

“And I want anchovies!”

“No promises!” And the door closed behind the two of them

“Wow,” Jacob breathed, “He’s certainly a strange one,”

“Indeed,”

“I’ve always wondered why they call you Tomato--” Jacob’s mind was painted with annoyed realization, “It’s the hair, isn’t it?”

“It’s the hair,” Edd brushed off their apron. He could swear the teddy bear smell was still lingering.

“So what relation are you to him, exactly?”

Edd took in a deep breath and sighed as all the trains of thought in their head scrambled to put together a story, “It’s complicated and kind of weird. We’re family, but not by blood... entirely. We still don’t have a full grasp on what exactly that means,”

Jacob raised an eyebrow, “Well, what do you know?”

“We’ve known one another since forever, and so we consider one another brothers. There’s something familial, by blood I mean, but I don’t know where or how. More or less, we all showed up and now we’re family,”

“That is weird. So, you’re all orphans or…”

“Uh… I guess? Thomas makes the most money out of all of us, and I guess I could consider him our legal guardian, but he isn’t around much. Torm may be rough, but as you saw with Scribbs, he’s plenty fatherly for all of us,”

“What kind of name is Scribbs anyway?”

“It’s just a nickname, sheesh. His real name is Tommie, but he loves to doodle so we call him Scribble; Scribbs, Li’l Scribbs, what have you,”

“Alright, you’ve got yourself a patchwork family full of orphans who may or may not be related to one another who just happened to meet each other one day. Sounds like fun,”

“It’s chaotic, for sure,”

“And he knocked the stopper off my wall,” Carlisle added, now at the front door assessing the damage.

Edd snapped his attention to the entrance, the wall sporting a white circle where the handle stopper would be. They groaned, “Torm, why,”

\---------

The door was unlocked. Either Torm forgot to lock it again, or since they were expected to come home soon just left it unlocked. Either way works since now they don’t have to knock or fish for the key. Or worse, resort to climbing through the window...again. They swung the door open and stepped inside. There was a distinct lack of pizza smell

“We’re home!” they called out through the seemingly vacant living room, “where’s the pizza?” There were clumps of ash brown hair sticking up from the couch. They rolled their eye, “We can see you, Scribbs, don’t try to scare us aga--”

“RAAH!”

They started so badly they dropped their bag, screamed at the top of their lungs, and made a break for it. They promptly tripped over the ripped ottoman, and fell face first right onto the floor. There was loud and obnoxious laughter from behind them.

“Torm! What part of me did you bribe to do that?!”

“Yeah! That’s something I would do!”

Said fusion clone was laughing too hard to respond at the moment. They glanced at the couch; Scribble Tom was sitting there, smiling a big dumb smile.

“tOmATo feLL oveR,” He began to giggle a little

The laughter of Torm had calmed down to wheezy attempts to breathe and speak. It was slow progress, “I-I, we’re sorry, ha haha haa!” He took a deep breath in, “You came in at just the right time. The opportunity was there, I couldn’t just pass it up. I’m sorry if you guys got hurt,” He continued to chuckle as he walked over to where they were sprawled out and helped them to their feet, “And the pizza’s just not here yet,”

“Anchovies?”

Torm would’ve rolled his eyes if he had any, “Yeah yeah, you’re gonna get your gross anchovy pizza. You rest your million thoughts,”

The sound of the back door opening grabbed all their attentions. A man appearing far too detailed to be real stepped in. R-Matt had come to join the party it seemed.

“How goes there,” He set his own bag down, “What disgusting concoction has Master Chef Torm made for us today?”

“Watch your mouth, unpretty boy. I didn’t make anything,”

“PizzA!” Scribbs poked his head out from the couch

“Did you order pizza?” Torm nodded, “Whose paycheck is this coming out of?”

Torm poked a thumb right at the one-eyed being beside him, “What?!”

“I’m pulling your leg, sheesh. Take a joke, boys,” He punched their shoulder

Not long after Thomas arrived home, looking exhausted and slicked hair tousled from worry. No different than every day. After the work dogs changed out of their work attire the pizza arrived; three extra larges with varying toppings.

And so, with the pizza and soda Torm bought that day, the tv was turned onto some sports they didn’t much care about and everybody chowed down.

“So Redd,” R-Matt got their attention, “how was your day?”


	2. Tell a Tall Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is any job really worth showing your biggest and most disturbing secret?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I find myself adding to this story instead of the things I'm supposed to do.
> 
> Italicized text indicates internal dialogue

Matt was the first to wake up, everyone else in them groggily acknowledging this but still trying to cling to sleep. Matt internally tried to “shake their shoulders,” since without everyone awake the body moved like it was a thousand pounds and drunk. In the end, Tom and Tord defiantly stuck to sleep while Edd decided to join Matt on the daily routine. They turned over and stretched, taking in the room.

That last night ended up fairly weird, they recalled. They recanted the day to R-Matt, the incidents with both Anja and the flirt leading to some teasings from Torm. Of course there was laughter and shovings and lots of red faces. They had broken out some games after Scribbs got tired and fell asleep on the couch. Cards Against Humanity, Uno, and eventually Scrabble. With all the raunchiness and dirty words that kept rising to the surface with these games, they were happy innocent Scribbs was out cold for them. Kid’s still young, no need to know what a clitoris is just yet. They still all laughed at the jokes, dirty or not. Not Thomas though, his defect was his humor, or lack thereof. If he ever laughed at anything it was for the driest things that made you feel parched just being in earshot of.

They fell asleep on the couch; of course they did, everyone did. Well, fell asleep in the living room, at least. Torm was gracelessly splayed on the floor, flask in hand and snoring loudly; Thomas was leaned against the couch, head rolling to the side; Scribbs had moved sometime in the night since he now was sprawled on the ottoman; R-Matt was curled up in a tight ball on the couch, leaning into the crevice between the couch cushion and the backing. And they, themselves, were splayed out on the couch cushions. That would explain why R-Matt was in a tight ball on the end of the couch; they always were ones to take up all the space. They sat up and cracked their back; time to kick the cat.

“Hey Torm,” Matt gave the comatose fusion a light shove with their foot, “That can’t be comfortable,” The clone didn’t stir. Matt kicked them a little harder, “Torm. Hey,” Torm snorted and flinched hard, before groaning in annoyance, “There you are,”

Torm turned and faced the sitting one kicking him, a night on the floor giving his face an impression of the carpet on his cheek. He glowered at them, “Tomato, why you gotta do this to me?” his eye sockets twitched.

“Because it’s time to get up and you spent the whole night drooling on the rug,”

Torm wiped the edge of his chin, “Your point being?”

“You stink, go take a shower,”

“That didn’t answer my question,” He began to get up, pausing a bit to let the headrush pass, “And it’s you that stinks. I can smell the anchovies from here,”

Matt paused before doing a breath test. Fish and cheese were heavy on their breath, “That’ll charm the ladies,”

“A-heh, hilarious,” Torm’s face held a deadpan expression as he grabbed the hem of their hoodie and pulled them to a stand, “Go de-stink yourself,” he shoved them towards the bathroom

They missed the wakenings of Thomas and R-Matt, but judging by the shouts and crashing sounds from outside the bathroom, they didn’t have calm ones. Edd suggested that Torm broke out the Scream mask from hiding again, and the sounds of the yelling of Thomas about having thrown that thing out at least a dozen times and it still showing up, he was dead on the money. They turned off the shower, wrapped a towel around their waist, and opened the door; the smell of bacon was heavy.

“Torm, you didn’t turn on the vent, did you?” Edd quipped, followed by panicked yelps and the flick of a switch. They vanished into their room.

\-----------------------

“Top o’ the mornin’ to ya, Redd!” Carlisle seemed fairly chipper this morning, it seemed, “Got some bags under your eyes (eh, eye), you sleepin’ well?”

Edd tied the apron around their waist, “Just a wild night of pizza and Cards Against Humanity. Torm spiked a bottle of soda with some of his Smirnoff, then dared me to chug the whole thing, so there is a bit of that,”

“You don’t take to alcohol well, huh?”

“Nope. Passed right out,”

“Ha!” Carlisle slapped their back, “Lightweight. Hopefully you’re not too hung over,”

“Just a minor case of serious migraines,” Edd and Carlisle both chuckled at this

“Aubrey’s gonna be running late today; her mum’s in the ER,” He slipped on his own apron.

“Wow, what happened?”

“Something about a grease fire burning her arm while making breakfast or whatnot. Told her she could take the day off but said she wanted to work a little at least. I admire her determination,” The bell rang as an obvious hipster came in, “And so, I’ll be helping you out until she comes in,”

The morning was busier than the day before, but it’s Monday morning and everyone knows how well the Mondays are received. The time read 9:45, and so far only 4 people had come up complaining about their coffee; all other complaints were about the WiFi being iffy. Just a bad day for the Wifi, it would seem.

Carlisle’s pocket buzzed, and he reached and pulled out his phone. After reading the text he slid the phone back in the pocket, “Aubrey says the burn’s super bad, and that she’ll need a skin graft all the way up her arm, on part of her chest, and her neck,”

“Ouch. Is she still saying she’ll come in sometime?” Edd called out an order before continuing, “With something like this I think it’d be best to stay home and call a holiday. If I remember right it’s just her and her mum, yeah?”

“And the pet cat,”

“Right,” There was the unmistakable sound of a plastic cup falling to the ground and spilling it’s contents, followed by gasps of surprise. Edd groaned, “I got it,”

Edd walked over to the janitor’s closet and grabbed the Spill Magic. He walked up to the spill, which, upon closer examination, was a bit of a sadder story than he was expecting.

A young kid, maybe 14, had spilled her coffee on what could be a sketchbook, judging from the blank pages with pencil doodles. She was staring at the spill, wide eyed and quivering.

_Oh dear_

“Oh… Sorry about that, miss. Maybe we could get you a new brew on the house?” He leaned over and picked up the book, “Maybe you could salvage this? Tinted paper makes some cool art,” Edd was trying his best to cheer up the now-crying teen, and maybe was helping a little since she managed a small smile.

“N-no thanks, Mr. Redd. I think I’ll just go home and dry the pages,” She sniffed loudly, “Thank you, though,”

Edd grinned sympathetically, “Alright, hope to see you again,” The girl nodded and began to walk away.

They hardly began to pour the powder on the spill when the sound of guns cocking grabbed their attention, in four different places around them.

“Alright, Receding Hairline, empty that register for me,” A man in a black beanie threatened Carlisle at the front desk, “And don’t try anything; callin’ the cops, whatever. Call the fuzz, more a’ your precious customers are gonna go down,” Edd glanced at the front door, a very large man in all black and a huge gun guarded the exit.

“Y-yessir,” Carlisle’s voice was small and timid, his entire thin frame shaking like a leaf

A robber to the side barked at everyone to get down. The sound of people moving en masse filled their ears, but they stayed standing. Their head was buzzing with conflict, drowning out everything else happening around them.

“Hey, Long Legs!” The robber called Redd out, “I said get down!” The barrel of the gun was shoved into their back.

That was the trigger

A huge wave of anger sent Edd flying into the backseat, thoughts spinning from whiplash.

**POW-CRACK!!**

It was Tom who threw the jaw-shattering punch, tapping into the unnatural strength that they possessed. The robber was sent flying into the tables behind them, jaw morphed and out cold.

Before the robber at the front could react, their hand had been grabbed and a with a quick glimpse of red hair, was sent flying to the floor with a broken nose. Tord had joined in the anger.

“A hero, huh? How about this, then?” A fourth robber quipped from behind them. A loud **BANG** resounded and their left shoulder erupted in pain. They cried out and doubled over

“Redd, don’t--!” Carlisle didn’t have time to plea before his employee was kneed in the face, “Redd!”

Matt’s former fear had now turned red.

“Not the FACE!!” Their voice was nightmarish, three voices roaring in anger. Ignoring the pain in their shoulder, they clocked the robber in the gut, grabbed and threw the gun to the side, and while he was hunched over in pain, grabbed his shoulders and kneed his nose as hard as they could. Broken nose bleeding and body limp, they threw the man aside and let him fall harshly.

The one guarding the door had leveled his rifle right at the three-times angry thing standing in front of him, but it was clear he was shaking where he stood, “Don’t get any closer! I-I’ll shoot, man!” The eyes darted around, and the rifle was lowered to face the same girl with the sketchbook, eyes full of tears, “I’ll shoot her!”

Now all four were unanimously livid.

\--------------

They cradled their bandaged shoulder, as well as an ice back on their cheek. They had splotches of blood on their clothes and stains on their hands; it wasn’t their blood. The bullet managed to enter and exit their flesh, but only along the top, mostly creating a trench in the muscle. The sounds of the police sirens wailed in the background, adding further atmosphere to the situation. It was drowned out though. They were arguing

_\--idiot! We’ll be fired for sure!_

_That’s the most prevalent thing on your mind?! We just got shot! We’re wounded!_

_If we didn’t do anything it would’ve been a lot worse!_

_We violated policy! If Tom here had remembered the policy we would still have a job and not a hole in our shoulder!_

_Hang the policy! Those guys were shown not to be afraid to shoot people. Imagine how many people could’ve been hurt or even killed if it wasn’t for us!_

_….._

_Edd?_

_…. We had a good thing going, didn’t we? We almost felt normal_

“Redd,” Carlisle’s hard tone snapped them back to reality, “I’d like to speak to you in my office,”

_Here we go_

They got up from the cafe chair and followed their boss to the back office, bracing for a stern lecture every step of the way.

The door closed, “Do you know why I called you in here?” Carlisle gestured to the plastic chair for them to sit

“Because I saved a whole shop full of people?” Edd suggested timidly

“NO!” Carlisle erupted, slamming his fists on the table. Everyone flinched hard, “Tell me our company policy; tell me word for word!”

“Uh…” Edd’s thoughts scrambled and picked his memory, “In case of attempted robbery, press the red button under the desk and...comply with the robbers’ demands?”

“You’re missing a part there,”

“N-Do not attack?”

“DO NOT ATTACK!” He threw his hands in the air, “Queen Mary have mercy, Redd! What made you go throwing punches?! You got hurt! You could’ve been killed! You ALMOST WERE killed! Granted, you’re not dead, and no one else got hurt, but there are other issues at stake here! We are going to be questioned by the police! There’s gonna be so much paperwork! The paparazzi will be all up in our business! Our reputation is going to plummet, meaning sales are going to drop, and I’m gonna have to start laying people off!” Carlisle was just pacing and ranting at this time, “Cor, I might have to close this place!”

“With all due respect, sir,” _Tom, now is not a good time,_ “I would rather face termination than the memory of someone dying when I could’ve prevented it,”

“For the love of Pete, Redd, don’t use that voice!” Carlisle pinched the bridge of his nose, “That’s noble, and I would choose the same, but that’s not all,” Carlisle’s voice lowered and was laced with fear, “You punched someone’s jaw out and sent them flying across the room. You broke two noses with no damage to yourself, and then you beat a huge bear of a man to a bloody pulp, with a gunshot wound in your shoulder! That’s not natural,”

“Adrenaline, sir. I couldn’t stop myself,” Edd couldn’t look the man in the eye

“I would believe you, and I do believe you,” Everyone was confused by this wording, “but I doubt an adrenaline rush would make your eye socket EMIT LIGHT,”

“Wha--?”

“The empty eye socket you own, it was glowing purple. It was GLOWING, Redd! How do you explain that??!” Edd stumbled on his words while everyone else stumbled on their thoughts. Carlisle sat down in his chair and glowered at his employee, “I want answers, Redd. I want the truth now and I want the whole truth,”

Edd’s mouth was agape before he stuttered, “You-you can’t handle the truth--”

“Redd,” Carlisle poked a finger onto the desk, a dull thud resounded, “You are FIRED if you don’t tell me what the hell is going on with you. You are FIRED if you don’t open that can of worms and tell me why on God’s good earth you had indigo light spilling from your socket. You are FIRED if you don’t tell me why you were able to take down four armed men by yourself!! Do I make myself CLEAR?!” Carlisle’s booming voice bounced around the room; they could swear the others outside could hear the bellowing, “Take all the time you need,” He crossed his arms. Edd sighed and held his head down, bickering amongst the others. He spent a solid minute like this, “I’m waiting--”

“We are unnatural,” Edd said at last, “By all ethical and scientific laws, we shouldn’t exist,” Tom took the reins, “We are four different people forced together, and not even the original ones,” Tord’s turn, “We are clones. Created in a lab for the express purpose of upping the audience count of a movie. We didn’t make the cut,” Matt, “We failed what we were made to do; rejected. We stayed in that cell for too long, all of us. We broke out, and now we’re trying to live a normal life, always in constant fear that our creators are looking for us,” Edd again, “Being four people in one body means it’s hard to predict what will happen if one of us gets angry, it’s different every time. We’ve only been alive for...what, three years? There’s still so much about ourselves that we don’t know. We had acted out on pure instinct, and we never knew we could take out four people with limited damage to ourselves; we never had to fight before,” Edd felt his control over their right arm slip away as someone else lifted it to caress the bullet wound.

Carlisle’s jaw was on the floor, but his eyes read indignation, “Redd, I asked for the TRUTH! Not some Tall Tale you made up with you and your alternate voices!” He had stood up

“You don’t believe us,” Their voice was a mix of all four. Nightmarish, if Carlisle cared enough to pay attention to that detail

“Of course I don’t believe you! What you’re telling me is that you’re a mix up mistake of a clone of four people! What kind of movies were you up late watching? Hello, earth to Redd. This is reality!” Edd had removed the top half of his apron, “If you won’t tell me the truth, fine, have it your way. You’re fired! Fired, fired, fired, FIRED!!” a few buttons of the shirt undone to make some room, “You can practice that vivid imagination of yours back at home, ‘cuz I don’t have time for deranged, possibly schizophrenic weirdos working under me!” they grabbed at different ends of their neck, “Take off that apron and get out. You’ll get your final pay in the m--!!” He stopped dead, eyes widening

The sound of skin and muscle tearing filled the office, and the sound of several voices begging to scream but holding their tongues scratched at his eardrums. Their neck was thickening, skull widening, and duplicate features forcing their way out of the skin. Different hair colors, one bright ginger with the others varying shades of brown, different skin tones, different eyes with different colors being pulled from the ones that were already there. Mouths were stretched and new sets of teeth revealed.

They held their Eldritch abomination of a head in place for a beat, before letting it merge back slowly with the slimy sounds of a refusing. When there was one eye and one socket, one nose, and one mouth, topped with a dark ginger hair color, they turned their attention back to Carlisle, panting and sweating profusely.

The man had backed into a corner, clawing at the paint to get farther away. He was shaking like a leaf, pale as a sheet, and it was clear he could hardly breathe. Edd could sense the others wanted him to explain further. He sighed.

“We’re sorry. You asked for the truth, and we did tell you it would be a lot to process. We don’t want to die, no one in my family does. We just want to try and live a normal, human life, despite the descriptor ‘human’ being questionable for us,” Carlisle began slowly approaching them, “We need this job, we need the money, and we were willing to go to such lengths as to tell you the one secret we have vowed to tell nobody to keep it. We understand now that it may not have been the best decision, and if you want us out of your sight we understand,” They stood up, “monsters like us should be--” They found themselves in a tight hug; a shaky one, but tight nonetheless.

“R-Redd,” Carlisle’s voice was strained and shaky, “Redd, I--” He pulled an arm out of the embrace to hold his mouth for a moment, “That was a very brave thing to do; I can’t imagine the kind of courage it would take for you to tell me that. You’re...you’re not fired,” He caught the dumbfounded look on their face, and pulled out of the hug entirely, “You can’t control being what you are, and who am I to deny you the right to feel normal? To try and supply for your family, y-you and your brothers. Why am I even mad at you? Why was I even mad at you? You’re a hero, sweet crumpets! Paperwork and cameras in our faces shouldn’t matter to the fact that no one was hurt. Well, besides the ones that tried to do the hurting in the first place,” He chuckled dryly, “and you, I suppose,” his gaze fell on the bandaged shoulder,

Edd let out a huff, “It’s no biggie. Just a scrape,”

“Redd, you need stitches,”

Their gaze fell to the floor, “We know…”

There was a pause, then Carlisle pat their uninjured shoulder, “Come on, we gotta go answer to the cops, and get you to a doctor,”

“But--”

“I’ll cover the bill, c’mon,” And so he dragged them out the office door.

As is to be expected, as soon as they stepped out into the store, they were swamped by flashing lights and yelling. Redd covered up their face as best as they can, not really one for photography. The cops did their best to hold the reporters at bay, giving the two some room to breathe. The yellow caution tape was put up, and the reporters dutifully stayed behind it, still snapping photos all along the way. There were the sounds of live tv news reporters going over the events, trying to talk over one another.

“All this excitement, and it’s not even noon,” one officer sighed as he approached to two, “Which one of you is Carlisle Williams?”

“Me, sir,” The man raised out his hand, and they exchanged a handshake

“Mornin’ to you sir, and this tall young man would be…?” Edd remembered that their shirt was still slightly unbuttoned and their apron folded over, their name tag obscured.

“Uh...uh,” Edd was getting nervous, so nervous the voices of the other three were leaking through

Carlisle swooped in, “This is Redd, sir. He’s the hero in this situation. You’re free to ask him any questions you’d like, but at least give him a moment, he’s in a bit of shock,”

“Ah, right then,” he leaned into his walkie-talkie, “Jamie, I got Manager Williams with me, and our knight in shining armor. He needs a blanket and a bottle of water, though” He turned towards Carlisle after the “10-4,” was mumbled back, “If you two would come with me, I just have a few questions I’d like the two of you to answer, Redd a little later,”

One bright orange shock blanket and a bottle of water later, the two of them were outside sitting in an ambulance. The questions were aimed at Carlisle, though they all listened in

“Do you remember them walking in at all? Did you see them and think they were up to no good?”

“Uh, n-no, sir. We get people of all walks of life every day, they seemed perfectly normal,”

“Were they around for very long?”

“Uh,” Carlisle scrunched up his face as he dug through his memory, “I think one of them came in 20 minutes before and sat down next to the door; the really big one,”

“The one who hardly has a face anymore?” Edd pulled the blanket up closer to their face in shame, “Calm down there, son. Anything else to add before I ask Redd some questions?”

Carlisle was silent for a moment, wracking his thoughts. His face fell, “No sir, that’s all the info I can recall. If I may ask, if I remember anything based on the questions you ask them, may I say it? He-he really is a bit out of it,” Tom mostly wanted to retort, but the others held their mouth shut.

“You may, but I do want to hear it mostly from his mouth,” He put a reassuring hand on the uninjured shoulder, “You take as much time as you need to to answer me, ok son?” Edd nodded slowly, “I’m not grilling you, we just want to know what happened,” They nodded again, “Alright, what do you remember? Recall the incident to me as best you can,”

Edd didn’t want to be the one to talk about it, but with them agreeing before he was the up front personality, he really had no choice. Taking in a deep breath to steady his nerves, he began.

“I was cleaning up a spill when I heard guns cocking. One guy was at the front desk, threatening Carlisle, that was the first thing we--I heard. Next someone else told everyone to get down, but I didn’t. It…” Their heads buzzed with a way to explain, “was like something deep inside u-me woke up and roared. I hardly knew what I was doing until after the guy that was threatening Carlisle was far away from us and out cold. I was coming to when the big one guarding the door threatened a little girl if I got too close. I remember feeling angry; not the anger I was feeling before, that was more like instinct. I was angry along with them--with it. It’s a blur, but the next clearest memory I have is my hands stained red, a large red hole in the wall, and the dude’s face unrecognizable. I...I couldn’t stop. I don’t know where all this strength came from,”

“Adrenaline rush can make a scrawny boy pick up a car; true story,” His walkie-talkie crackled, “This is Chief,”

“Sir, a very aggressive man, supposedly blind, is trying to cross the barricade. He seems desperate for someone he calls ‘Tomato,’” A woman’s voice came over the radio. There was enraged shouting heard over the din of everything else. It was very familiar, “And he broke through…”

“Torm?” Edd whispered

Surely enough, the shouting came ever closer, and more discernable, “Redd! Hey ya, Tomato! Redd!” The man broke through the crowd, barefoot, wearing a stained tank top, and still in his pajama shorts, as well as his sunglasses nonexistent. He scanned the crowd before his eyes landed on the ambulance, along with the people sitting in it, “Tomato!” He began to make a beeline for them, only to be stopped by another officer.

“Sir, please stay back. A crime happened her--”

“Piss off with that!” He shoved his way past the man, “Redd!” Torm ran right up to the ambulance with every intention to grab Tomato, but the Chief pulled him back

“Sir, stay back or I will have to arrest you,”

“Like that’ll keep me from my brother! Let go!”

“Sir, dammit! Back off!”

Edd began to speak up, trying to talk over the din of them shouting. It didn’t work; his words lost in the breeze. Carlisle took it upon himself to speak out.

“With all due respect, Chief Birmingham,” The squabble paused, “I think it’d be best to let family through for comfort. Redd’s going to need all the support he can get. Can you please give them a moment?”

The officer thought this through, then released his grip on the man’s shirt. Torm instantly ran up and hugged them. They instantly flinched when their shoulder moved

“Tomato, helvete!” His voice was thick with both anger and relief, “What the hell happened here?! Are you ok? Herregud, your shoulder, your face! We need to get you home and get those looked at!”

“Uh, Torm, sir?” Carlisle squeaked out. They caught his attention, “I think it would be best to have a doctor do that,”

“No doctors!” Torm waved his arm in a dismissive manner. He noticed the other man was staring, “What?!”

“How...how do you see?”

“Aw cripes, forgot my sunglasses,” he whispered under his breath, “None of your concern, you dingbat! I’m getting my brother here home where he’s safe and we can fix him up!” Torm began to pull on the blanket

“Torm,” Edd squeaked out and wasn’t heard, “T-Torm,” He was louder, and the fusion clone stopped pulling, “I told him,”

“Told him what?” A hunch grew, along with the incredulous look on the man’s face, “Redd, you didn’t. You did not tell him our biggest secret,”

“I...we showed him,” They broke eye contact,

“That’s even worse!” Torm pulled at his disheveled hair, “Why?! What made you do that!”

“We were going to be fired if we didn’t,”

Torm turned a poisonous glare at the man beside them, “You were going to what?”

“Uhhh, that’s not the whole story,” Carlisle grinned nervously, “His-the eye socket was glowing, and no one simply pummels four armed men into submission so casually. I wanted to know why that-those were, ok? And the thing with the firing, it’s against company policy to fight back against robbers,” He had taken a half step back

Torm dropped the glare to the asphalt and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Dammit, Tomato. Just...dammit. When are you two allowed to leave?”

“When questions have been answered and Redd gets that hole stitched up,”

“Then get on with it; the sooner the better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spill Magic is a thing where you can clean up spills and messes without needing to break out a mop. I know this cuz I worked in retail before. Handy thing, it is


	3. Time to Explain a Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for someone to get infodumped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man alive, I've been waiting to write this chapter for quite a while now. Please, enjoy my feeble attempt at worldbuilding

Torm joined them in the ambulance, since no one could tear him away. It was fairly quiet, minus the rumbling of the vehicle and the various beepings of equipment inside, and it was very tense. Everyone could feel it: Redd, Carlisle, Torm, even the EMT looking at the hole in Redd’s shoulder remained quiet and nervous. So many questions to be asked, so many answers wanted, yet silence reigned in the back of the ambulance the entire way to the hospital. It wasn’t until they were sitting in an exam room waiting for a doctor did someone finally speak up. Or rather, sneeze.

“Ha-CHOO!!” Carlisle did have a penchant for making his sneezes forceful

“Gesundheit,” Redd responded, the elephant in the room a bit smaller

Torm sighed, “Alright, we all know you wanna say something, so out with it,” He rolled his wrist

The man tensed up and began to shake visibly, his mind racing to get his thoughts more organized, “U-uh...I-erm, c-can you do that uh,” he grabbed his neck and pulled outwards

Torm facepalmed, “You showed him like that? Bloody hell, Redd,” said clone simply looked away, “Yes, I can do that, but that’s because both me and Tomato are special cases. I am two shoved in one, and he’s four shoved in one,”

“You mean your other siblings can’t do that?”

“As far as we’ve seen, no. They’re not several consciousnesses in one vessel. There was more than one way of messing up a clone, fusion is just one of them. However we don’t know what being made out of whatever matter we are entails; maybe they all can do it,”

“Ok, I’m still having trouble wrapping my mind around the whole clone thing. The multiple personalities is easy enough to digest, since it happens in people, but what I’m being told here is that I’m currently sitting in a room with freaks of science for company,” Carlisle put his head in his hands, “Sweet Virgin Mary, you really don’t ever think you’d be in this situation,”

The door opened, and a man walked in. The tag read Dr. Morgan, “Hello there, Mister Redd and company,” Torm kept his head down, “Why don’t we get that wound cleaned and stitched up, yes?”

“Y-yes please,” Edd fumbled, a bit of Tom’s voice leaking out.

The doctor began unwrapping the crude bandages, “Who wrapped this up? Yourself?”

“Yeah; had to stop the bleeding somehow, heh,”

“Well, it did it’s job, at least, though removing the ones against the wound itself is gonna hurt, ok?”

“We-I understand,” As the layers of bandages got thinner, they could feel the slight tug of the skin. Everyone mentally clasped hands, bracing for the pain,

“Here we go, 1, 2, 3!” With a little tug, the bandage against the open wound was removed. Hot pain seared through the body, everyone inside it cringing hard, “Oh wow, that’s gonna leave quite the scar,”

“Yeah, that...that would make sense,”

“It shouldn’t hinder use of your arm too much,” he moved over to the side table and grabbed a syringe, “This should make it hurt less,” He carefully plunged the needle in and administered the medicine, “It’ll take a moment for it to start to work, you tell me when the feeling starts to go away, ok?” Edd nodded.

They were silent while the doctor cleaned the wound, the antiseptic on the gauze pads making them cringe, but soon the stinging began to lessen. They informed the doctor of this.

“Do you feel this?” He tapped the sides of the wound, no feeling, “Great. We can stitch you up then,” He reached over and grabbed a needle and thread, and within the minute the hole was closed. He grabbed a light and clicked it on, “Just need to check a few more things,” He waved the light over their eyes, “What happened here?” He nodded his head and pointed the instrument

Edd had to clear their throat, “Old injury. I accidentally stabbed it as a kid and it had to be removed,”

“Well, the surgeon did a fine job with it; nice and sealed. A small little something in there to keep the eyelid open?”

“Huh?” They never had had this question asked them, “Uhh...I didn’t know it, uh--”

“Yeah,” Torm put in, “They were a little delirious after the surgery, and that’s when they were told about the thing in their eye holding up the lid,” He still kept his head relatively hidden from view

“And why was that put in?”

“He was crying about not feeling totally normal then,”

“Ah, I see. Good job then, your pupil dilation is normal. Time to wrap up that thing, and get you an ice pack for that cheek of yours,” He got the gauze roll and began to dress the wound.

“Dr. Morgan,” Edd asked cautiously. The man responded with a “hm?”, “Th-the robbers, any info on them?”

The good doctor paused, then sighed as he continued, albeit slowly, “One’s lower jaw is completely smashed, along with a serious injury to the back of the head. He probably will need pieces of his jaw replaced, and he may only see shadows for the rest of his life. One of the two whose noses were smashed in has passed, the other will need severe corrective surgery and therapy for brain damage. The last, the one whose face is so mangled it practically doesn’t exist anymore, he was long dead when he got here,” Redd’s face grew pale; they looked like they were about to barf, “It’s not your fault, kiddo,”

“How can you say that, of course it is,” Edd’s voice held lots of horror and disgust, but there was just as much anger, “two men are dead because of us--because of me. How else would you expect one to feel?” They were really beginning to look green

“Oh my,” A bowl from the side was snatched up and placed in Redd’s lap, which was quickly dry-heaved into, “I understand, but they came into your place of work looking for trouble, and had shown they weren’t afraid to shoot. Instinct, we all have it, kid--” the bowl was loudly filled with bile, “Sir, could you get a cup filled with some water, please?” He asked Carlisle and pointed at the sink, where a stack of styrofoam cups resided.

“Sure,” he did as he was told

Redd swished the water around in their mouth before spitting it back out into the bowl, coughing a little. They glanced at their lightly stained hands and clenched them, shoving them into the folds of their uniform, “I’m a murderer,”

“When it’s in cold blood it’s murder. In this case it’s called justifiable homicide,” Dr. Morgan was scribbling on a clipboard, “You’ll have other things to worry about after this, but as of now all you need is some ice packs and to change your dressings every so often,” He placed a paper on the exam chair next to Redd, “Once you get your ice pack you can go,” He walked out.

There was a moment of silence in the room, Carlisle again being the one to break it

“I’m still very confused on where you all came from. I don’t think I’ve met the others of your family yet,”

“We can talk about it when we get back to the flat,” Torm murmured, “out here it’s too open to discuss such things,”

And so they all shut up

\---------------

Carlisle sat on the musty red sectional couch, holding the mug of tea in his hands, and staring at some of the most outrageous beings he had ever seen in his life, and probably wouldn’t have seen in his wildest imaginations. There was a child sitting at a small table, who seemed to be in the wrong place in time and space, features and suggestions of features dragging out farther than they would on a normal human. There was a man who seemed to make all his preconceptions of reality blow away in the wind, features too angular and yet too soft to be real. The other was relatively normal, given the crowd, sans the void eyes everyone seemed to sport. And then there were the two “fusions” he knew well enough about. Minus the child, who was happily drawing, he could feel all the attention of the freaks in the room, and it made him shake. 

His tea spilled a drop onto his leg, the man recoiling and giving a gasp of pain, “Ah!” he sucked in his breath

“Alright, enough with the silence,” the one they called Thomas replied in a steady and authoritative tone, “we’re not going to hurt you. I understand your hesitation, Mr. Williams, I really do, but please understand that we’re completely at your mercy. It’s best you know as much about us as you can handle before making any judgements,”

“Right-o, sir. Sorry,” He cleared his throat, “I’m sorry if this offends any of you, but are any of you...human?”

There was a silence, “Yes and no,” Thomas answered, sipping his own tea, “We are human in the sense that we appear, think, and function like you do; and we are inhuman in the sense our bodies were made in inorganic ways and are made up of different materials than you,”

“Different materials? Like what?”

Thomas took a long sip of tea, “We don’t know,”

Carlisle’s face lost it’s color.

“Why do you think we’re so hesitant to go to the hospital?” Torm put in, attention turning to him, “Blood samples and skin scrapes and whatnot can give us away. Who knows what the doc would find if they put our blood under a microscope,”

“You all must live in constant fear, then,”

“Not exactly,” R-Matt answered, “We’ve covered as many bases as we could find when we escaped; laid low until we managed to get this place. We’re fairly confident in our work in forgery,”

“Right,” Carlisle looked to the side, “I heard Redd say something about breaking out of a lab, the lab you were created in. Wh-what was that about?”

Thomas paused, expression falling significantly. He took in a deep breath before retelling the escapade

{(Read Out for this part of the story)}

Carlisle is silent after Thomas finishes recanting his tale, emotions running wild inside him. He takes a moment to pick his words, “Sounds like you didn’t have an easy start to your lives,”

“No,” Torm answered, “not at all,”

“But, what WAS the reason you all were created?”

“Upping the view count of the stupid movie the same man who created us made,” Thomas grasped his forehead, “he took the only four people to have seen it, gathered the DNA left on the seats, and cloned them so his movie would gross more income,”

Carlisle lifted an eyebrow, “That...seems very silly,”

“It’s absurd, is what it is!” Thomas exclaimed, “I’ve wrung the idea out so many times in my mind and I still can’t get how it actually worked. All I’ve managed to conclude is how he made so many mistakes and ended up with rejects like us,”

“Which would be?”

“Many people have sat on those seats before, and when the DNA samples were originally collected he had yet to figure out how to isolate the DNA of the ones he was looking for. This meant there were those who did not fit the criteria of what he was looking for, resulting in some rooms filled with the rejected ones. It took much fine-tuning, rooms upon rooms being filled with those who didn’t fit, but he eventually managed to make a huge clone army of those four people. We don’t know the fate of these ‘successful’ clones, nor the absolute fate of our rejected brethren in the rooms before or after us, but to us those are questions better left unanswered,”

Carlisle’s jaw was on the floor once again, his face devoid of color, “I…” he began visibly trembling and pursed his lips.

“The bathroom is that door there,” Thomas pointed, and Carlisle bolted in and slammed the door. The telltale sounds of vomiting came soon after. There was silence in the main room until the door opened again, the man stepping out with a pale face and a slight limp.

“I’m sorry--”

“Don’t be. This is a lot to parse; any sane person would have a hard time coming to terms with it,”

“Y-yes, but that’s not fair to you all,”

“Oh please,” Torm butt in, annoyance dripping on his voice, “like your natural responses to things are gonna offend us. If anyone knows about offense it’s us lot,”

“Torm, don’t be rude,”

“Pfft, whatever DAD,” he crossed his arms and leaned more into his seat

Thomas simply sighed, “Anyway, since I told you everything I could think of, do you have any questions?” he took another sip of his tea

Understatement of the year. Still, Carlisle tried his best to not shout out everything at once. He took a deep breath in, “Ok, what I want to know is who is fused with Redd, and Torm too I guess,”

“Does this sound familiar?” The two fusions replied in their Norwegian-accented voice. It was strange to the visitor, hearing the exact same voice come out of two separate people.

“Yes,”

“This is Tord. From what the memories he holds recalls, he’s not the best of men,” Redd answered, still speaking with the voice of Tord, “But me, this Tord, has long since disowned that part of who I’m supposed to be. I am my own man; well, all of us are our own,”

“Oh,” It took a moment for what exactly they meant by that to sink in, “ohhh…” He fiddled with his mug, “So...if Torm is one half this Tord person, who’s the other?”

“Honestly, he’s the most prevalent one in the room,” Torm spoke in a new voice, one that was very familiar, and one he linked to teasings

“Hey, that’s the one Redd uses when he wants to imitate me,”

“Yeah…” Redd drawled out in the same voice, “I kinda sound like you, at least enough to get Aubrey to laugh. I like her laugh, it’s cute,” there was a hint of pink on their face, “I’m Tom, and for some reason, almost all of us here have a bit of me; minus Matthony here,” Redd pointed at the existential crisis one, who waved timidly, “The blank eyes thing is my fault; weird trait with me. Thomas is Tom minus the humor, and Scribbs is Tom except warped and weird and aged down to a kid. As for the two of them,” they pointed at Torm, whose name was starting to make sense in Carlisle’s mind, “the two real people he’s fused with don’t get along at all, as in go-at-each-other’s-throats don’t get along,” the voice shifted to the Norwegian, “Well we haven’t exactly reached Nirvana ourselves, TOM,” Back to the angry one, “Shut up, you,”

They were promptly kicked in the shin, making their soon to be argument over before it started, “None of that, Tomato,” Torm snapped. The fellow fusion clone simply shut up and closed up.

“Then how are you not ripping yourself apart? And using ‘I’ and ‘me?’ I’ve heard Redd say ‘we’ and I get that, but you seem to be rather…” Carlisle motioned with his hands, trying to find the right word.

“Stable?” Torm answered for him

“Yeah, that,”

He scoffed, “Wasn’t born that way. In the early days I, well we, argued and tore at our flesh,” He pulled up a hoodie sleeve, revealing deep scars trailing up and down the arm. They were obviously caused by fingernails, “But you don’t spend your whole life sharing thoughts with someone you hate and not work out something between the two of you. Took a while, but here we are,” he gestured, “The two of us aren’t so different in the end,”

Carlisle nodded slowly, “I guess that makes sense. Who’s the other two?”

“Matt!” the bubbly and friendly voice that was also a smooth talker came to the surface, “The only other person in this room to share it with me is Matthony there. He’s supposedly a Matt clone, and I guess he is, but if he is he’s really weird,”

Said clone took a sip of his own drink, unmoved, “He speaks truth,”

“The ginger hair is my contribution to this mess of a clone,” Tom butt in, “At least we didn’t end up with your flat chin” , “Hey!”

Torm groaned and kicked them again,

“And as for the last one, I’m Edd. My voice is the one you know as my ‘regular voice,’ right?” Carlisle nodded, “I’m kinda the odd one out here; no one else in this apartment shares anything with me. I’m the one who’s the best with people in passing conversations, so we decided I’d be the frontman with our job,” Edd cleared their throat, “If I contribute anything to ourselves I’m guessing it’s the way our hair naturally falls? Or our body shape? I still haven’t exactly worked it out, since we’re no longer a little tubby and our hair has gotten longer,”

Carlisle’s stomach had settled enough for him to take a drink of his tea again, it having cooled down considerably, “I think I get it; makes enough sense,” he looked at his watch, “Man, it’s getting late; Percy must be really hungry by now,”

“Before you go, I must ask what your final verdict is about us?” Thomas’ eye sockets held a lot of emotion

Carlisle smiled as he stood up, “I will never tell anybody. You’re all off-kilter to what one would consider ‘normal’, but I’m not going to blow the whistle on you all, especially not on a child. I want to help you all out, starting with giving Redd a paid vacation to rest that shoulder of his; pardon me, theirs,” Said clone smiled, “and giving them a hefty raise. If there’s anything you all need help with, you can come to me for it. I don’t know how far I’ll be able to help, but I want to at least try,”

Thomas’ worried expression gave way to a warm smile as he stood up and stepped towards the man. The thought between everyone was that they were going to hug, but all it ended with was a vigorous handshake, “Thank you very much, Mr. Williams,”

“Please, just call me Carlisle,”

“cArLY!” Scribble exclaimed, making the man chuckle a bit

“I haven’t been called that since middle school,” he ruffled the child’s hair

“Come here, Scribble,” Thomas held his hands out toward the child, who instantly jumped into them. Thomas grunted with the effort, “I’ll show you to the door,”

“No!” Torm yelled as he stood up suddenly, grinding everyone to a halt. He hesitated, “I’ll show him out. It’s late and it’s probably not the best for someone to walk alone,”

“My car’s only a few blocks away; it’s not a trek,”

“Who knows who could be stalking out there, what with all the excitement this morning; and I don’t really want the only one who knows our secret, and is willing to help us out, get put in danger,” That sold it

“Alright Torm, you can show Carlisle off, just don’t get jumped yourself,” Thomas hefted Scribble up a little higher in his arms

“Hey, you know us,” He flicked out a knife from inside his hoodie pocket, “I think we can take care of ourselves,”

“Right then, off you two go. Thanks again, Carlisle,” Thomas commented while the two were walking towards the door

“No problem!” He called back, flashing a grin behind him

They stepped out and Torm closed the door. He fiddled with the keys a little before locking the door. Carlisle noticed his smugly confident smirk had faded.

“Why are you locking the door?”

“I have a thing with safety,” Torm leveled his gaze at the man, empty eye sockets full of emotion, “I have to tell you something, but only while we walk,”

“A-alright then,” The two began down the hallway, “What is it?”

Torm was silent for a moment, his pace slowing to a saunter, “I-I...uh,” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “This won’t make any sense unless I start at the beginning,”

Carlisle raised a confused eyebrow, “O...kay? You can start wherever you feel like,”

“Right…” he took in a deep breath, “I wasn’t always like this,” his pace quickened a little to a normal walking rate.

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Redd’s defect, ie being all four in one body… They’re not the first,”

The man was still confused, but a hunch was growing, “Torm, are you suggesting…”

“I don’t know how many four-in-ones were made, what with how many rooms there possibly were--are--, and with how many ways the clones could be messed up, who knows. All I know is Tomato is one...and so was I,”

Carlisle’s eyes widened, “...So what happened?”

“It’s pretty messed up, just warning you,”

“Pfft, with everything that has been dumped on me today I doubt anything else can surprise me,”

“That remains to be seen,” They chuckled dryly, “We came off the assembly line confused and unbalanced, and being picked up and tossed into a white room didn’t help with that at all. We were the first in that room, so all the company we had was ourselves. As you can probably guess…”

“It didn’t go too well?” they stepped outside, the slight chill in the wind hitting them

“Nope. We, Tom and Tord, argued and argued, and it kept escalating despite Matt and Edd’s attempts to calm us down. It had gotten to the point where we were tearing at our own flesh,” Torm gripped his arm, “Matt and Edd screamed at us to stop, since we were hurting them too, but we didn’t. We just kept getting angrier and angrier. It got worse and worse, us not noticing our flesh was melting, until,” he made a motion with his hands to mimic tearing paper. Carlisle visibly flinched, “We tore ourselves in half. No, ‘in half’ suggests it was 50/50 and clean. We tore ourselves in two. There was us, Tom and Tord, and then there was Matt and Edd, a destabilizing mass of flesh on the floor,” He looked to the side, Carlisle’s face filled with horror, “When we split, we took more than our fair share. We took bits and pieces of the other two with us,” Torm began rubbing his chin. At first Carlisle thought they were just thinking, but upon a closer look it seemed rather...square, “They were screaming, begging us to fuse back so the pain would end. But we didn’t. We were petrified, too shocked and scared to move. They screamed and screamed, and eventually stopped and laid still. Do you know what happens when a clone dies?” Obviously Carlisle wouldn’t know, but he asked anyway. The man shook his head

Torm turned his gaze to the sidewalk, “They melt. They melt and spread until they’re nothing but a stain on the floor. Eventually the color will fade and leave only grey behind, no trace of what they once were, of who they once were. We killed our friends, we killed ourselves,” Torm had to take a deep breath to try and calm his shaking. The same couldn’t be said for the wobbly man beside him, “Imagine my shock when four-in-one 2 Tomato dropped in,”

“Wh-why are you telling me this?” He almost ran into a streetlight

Torm paused, “Did you notice me stopping their arguments before they started?” A nod was the response, “That’s me stopping them from potentially suffering the same fate as the other half of me. I want to tell you to make sure they don’t pull themselves apart while I’m not there to stop it,”

“So what should I look for?”

“What we did was hang our heads and mutter at a rapid rate, but I haven’t seen Tomato do this yet. What they will do is instantly freeze in place, eyes wide, fingers will curl and hands will shake. Other times they’ll growl to the side, but that hasn’t yet ended with a new scar. Just...watch out for those, and snap them out of any trance they get in,”

“You really worry about that, don’t you,”

“I do, we do. We have made them promise not to fight too badly, but I don’t trust them to keep it,”

“Why not?”

“I know us, the arguments we can have, and have gotten into, get very nasty. All I’m asking you to do is keep an eye on them, make sure they don’t start tearing at each other, especially not with tons of others watching,”

“Do the others know about this?”

He hesitated, “No. I don’t know how to tell them. All they’ve ever seen me as was Tord and Tom, the two that hate each other’s guts, in one body. I especially don’t know how to tell Tomato; I don’t know how to tell them that the reason I poke at them when they suddenly get quiet is to make sure they don’t split at the seams,”

“I get that, I guess,” he pulled out a key ring from his pocket, “I’ll hold onto that secret for you, and keep watch for those things,”

“Thanks,”

He pressed a button and the third car from them chirped and flashed its lights, “And you’re right, that is heavy and messed up, even with the context of everything else today. Whew, what a group of people to suddenly find yourself in the middle of,” He opened his car door and placed his bag inside

“Are you going to be ok?”

“I’m probably going to pass out as soon as I hit the pillow, not without almost fainting as soon as I walk in. It’s probably going to take all night for everything to properly sink in,”

“That upchuck earlier not ‘sinking in’ enough?”

“I said properly. Man I’m gonna have so much to do tomorrow,”

“Take care of yourself, now,” The engine revved to life

“I’ll do my best!” The window rolled up and the car sped off down the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Percy is Carlisle's cat, who will claw up furniture and walls when he isn't fed


	4. Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to jump around a bit as time goes on and things get happy
> 
> for now

“Reow,”

Angry and displeased cat noises were all he was aware of, followed by the fact he was on the hard floor and not his bed. Also his chin and cheek really hurt; and all that could only mean one thing.

“I didn’t even make it to bed before passing out, great. Sorry, Perce,” He opened his eyes to meet the black paws of his cat. He picked himself up onto his haunches and glanced at the clock above the stove, “Ah good, it’s just been an hour. I’ll get you your food,” He stood up completely and walked to the cabinet. Opening the can of cat food, he placed it’s contents into the bowl, which was instantly attacked by the hangry cat.

Leaving Percy to eat, Carlisle walked to his bathroom. He closed the door, the first time in years of living alone, and leaned against the counter. He glanced at his reflection; his right cheek and chin were bright red, and his face was pale and eyes sunken. Of course they were. He grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste and began to brush his teeth. Halfway through he heard scratching behind him and, without pausing or looking behind him, opened the door and saw a black blur jump up on the loo tank.

**\---**

Carlisle just stood in the doorway of his office, a look of concentration and pondering so hard he looked like he might pop a vein. He wouldn’t respond to his name being called, so Aubrey resorted to poking his back. He flinched hard and gasped out, turning around with lots of ceremony.

“Uh, I’m here?” Her voice was small and timid,

“Did you not get my text?” Carlisle’s voice was low and tired, “No work today,”

“No, I didn’t,” She fished for her phone and turned it on, “Huh. My phone died last night and was in a rush when I woke up late,”

“No need to worry about that. Go home,”

“When can I come back?”

“Probably in two days. I’ll let you know,” He sat down in the chair behind the desk, or rather just slumped into it

“Ok then, See ya,” Aubrey began towards the door

“Wish your mother well,” He called out as he heard the door open and close.

He rubbed his eyes and exhaled loudly as he dragged his fingers down his eyelids; a call would be coming in soon from the insurance company about the damage to the store, and he was not looking forward to it. Stress he didn’t need. He was now absentmindedly running his fingers through his short hair, just trying to pass the time before the call came in.

“So...what will Redd and his family need…”

 

**_Time Lapse Start!_ **

 

“So how’d it go?” Torm called to Thomas at the stove where something black and burnt was smoldering

“I failed the test, but I got a few more tries before I have to pay again,” He took off his coat and hung it on the back of a chair, “which is more than I can say for your cooking,”

Torm was scraping the charcoal-that-was-once-edible into the sink, and shot his brother a scathing look. Thomas ignored it.

“Remember the deal Carlisle made for you,” Tomato called from their new black leather couch,

“I remember well enough,” Thomas was loosening his tie, “I still got two more tries before it’s off. Where’s Matt?”

“Office party or something,”

“Fine. And just keep in mind none of us have ever driven before, so don’t you call me out on it,” He folded his tie and began walking down the hall and out of sight

“We didn’t say anything!” Tomato called

“You were thinking it!” Came the response

_Great, he reads minds now_

“Pfft,” Torm scoffed as he brought his flask to his lips, “I’d say let him fail the driving tests a million times over. He’d pick the ugliest car in the lot; waste of Carly’s money,”

**\---**

“Matty!” Torm’s angry voice bounced around the room, his hands clasping the tablet tightly

Said person was grinning slyly, mostly hidden behind a tablet of his own, “Yessss?” He droned out slowly

“Did you put bedrock in my doorway?!”

“Noooooooooooo…”

“You filthy liar I saw you do it!”

Tomato and Scribble were trying not to laugh

“Do you want me to remove it?”

“If it’s convenient for you, unpretty boy. Thank you,” There was a moment, “MATTHONY!!” The bedrock was placed back right as he was crossing the doorway, causing his in-game character to suffocate in a wall. The sounds of blows and grunts came from his tablet

“You called me ugly,”

“C’mere, I’ll make it worse!” Torm had tossed his device to the far end of the couch and got up, hands curled in fists. Matty’s grin never faltered as he was chased around the room, giggling like a madman.

A loud explosion was heard from everyone’s devices. Torm and Matty stopped and made eye contact with the remaining two, who sported sly grins of their own.

“ToRM’s hOusE gO boOm,”

“It was a creeper, I promise. Well, a creeper that set off my TNT surrounding your stuff,” They were giggling in four different voices

There was another explosion, “TOrM’s StAtuE go BYe bYe,”

**\---**

“DadDY dADdY!” an excited little voice accompanied the shoulder pushing,

Thomas cracked open an eye socket and glanced at the digital clock on his night stand; 5:04am. Normally he would be grumpy about being awoken at such an early time, since he was really freaking tired right now, but it was Scribble and he sounded so excited, so all anger was swallowed as he sat up in bed. He cracked a smile as he tried to pry open his eyes a bit more, “What’s up, little man?”

“i lEaRNed a trick!” the sudden stable shift in the boy’s voice made Thomas snap his eyes open, and soon his jaw was on the floor.

He was normal! There were no features or otherwise dragging out farther than expected, no rippling and warping of his form as he happily jiggled around on the small bed, nothing minus the eyes was unusual. Thomas couldn’t stop the happy, incredulous gasps as he raised a hand to touch his face.

“Tommie, h-how…?”

“I don’t know! I just needed to go potty and I felt a little tingly and when I looked in the mirror, I didn’t look scribbly!”

“But...you sounded ‘scribbly’ when you shook me awake, right?” Thomas’ excitement was coupled with confusion

“I can do it all by mYsELf!” Once again the strange warpiness they knew him as came back, “I cAN TurN it off and on when i waNT iT to!”

Thomas couldn’t contain his elated giggles, but stopped as he took notice of something shining in the boy’s normally blank eye sockets when he grew stable. He squinted, “Scribbs, do you have...eyes?”

Scribble’s wide smile grew even more ecstatic as he nodded vigorously.

Tears began to prickle at Thomas’ eye sockets as he pulled the boy in for a hug, “This is amazing, Tommie,”

“I can’t wait to show everyone!”

“Eh, why not wait a little bit. It is rather early in the morning,”

“Ok!” the boy scuttled under the covers of the bed and shuffled in close to Thomas

“Scribbs, you have your own bed,”

“But you’re warM anD LiKE a Big tEdDY bEaR,”

Little Tommie knew exactly the buttons to press with his big brother. Basically the cutest form of emotional manipulation. Thomas gave a smile and ruffled the scribbly boy’s hair, “Alright, but just for tonight,”

///

“Thomas,” Torm’s voice held a pebble of fear, “Thomas, you’re smiling. It’s scaring me,”

“Us too,” The four voices from one body all sounded equally unnerved

Thomas huffed, “No worries, it’s good news. Scribbs, your cue,”

The boy walked out from Thomas’ room, not scribbly and warped but perfectly normal. The two took pride in the dumbfounded looks of the three others in the room.

“You know what this means, right?”

**\---**

Redd was shocked to see that the store was still closed even when he arrived. Carlisle’s car wasn't even in sight anywhere. According to the time they should’ve opened two hours ago. With someone as business-savvy as Carlisle, they would've thought he would make extra sure to open early to crank up the thermostat and get the pots going, so anyone coming in would be greeted to a nice, warm refuge from the cold winter morning. They stood by the entrance, breath fogging up the air around them, and fished for their phone.

Hey Carly, what’s going on? Are we not opening today?

Right as they hit Send a familiar face popped into their field of vision, looking very shocked and tired. What happened this time?

“Carlisle? Why are you late?” Edd questioned the man, who was fumbling for the key to his coffee house, “What’s got you so ruffled?”

The store was opened, a full night in the chill making the interior uncharacteristically cold, “Percy’s a Persia,”

This confused everybody, “Wh-at do you mean by that?” A bit of Matt popped through Edd’s voice,

Carlisle was by the thermostat, pushing various buttons, “I mean he had kittens,”

“Oh...OHHHHH!!” Excitement painted his voice, “Cool!”

“No, not cool. Was up all night trying to help him--her deliver the babies, get them blankets and milk, letting the whole fact that I thought he was getting fatter and trying to cut down on what he ate sink in, and calling various places to see if they’d accept the kittens,”

“And?”

“No one’s open at three in the morning!” He walked behind the counter and began to turn on the various equipment, “Now I got 6 kittens I don't know what to do with,” he noticed Redd had gone silent, and turned around to see the fusion clone grinning like a kid in a candy store, “What're you so happy for?”

\\\\\

Carlisle’s apartment was the typical bachelor pad, even for a man who was 42 and still single; messy, dishes that hadn't been done in maybe three weeks, cat hair everywhere, one would expect no less. But none of that mattered at the moment, seeing that a few less-than-organic beings were fawning over some week old kittens who haven't even opened their eyes yet. The man had to admit it was cute… ok, it was downright adorable. Redd’s eye held a happy sparkle, such a like as he’d never seen before, as they watched the mother cat Percy (Persia now) groom and feed six little kittens, with them occasionally giving any stray kittens a quick pet on the head before they were whisked away again.

They weren't the only ones super happy to see the kittens; little Tommie had come along, and he was also grinning a stupidly happy grin as he watched the little puffballs get mothered.

He turned his attention to his right, where Thomas stood, smiling warmly. Carlisle reeled back a bit, the clone noticing.

“What?”

“You were smiling, it’s odd and unsettling,”

Thomas sighed, “Just because I have defected humor you think I'm incapable of happiness?” Carlisle said nothing as he broke eye contact. Thomas mimicked the motion of rolling his eyes, “Well, regardless, it's hard to be serious and cold when your family looks just so darn happy. The cute little kittens help, of course,”

“Of course,”

“So, any plans for them? Gonna keep any?”

“Nope. Can’t afford it, I’m hardly home, already content with one cat, I don’t need any more. I called the shelter down the street and they’re willing to take them on, once they get old enough to leave their mother. Wait, why are you asking?”

“Oh, no reason,” Thomas held a sly, knowing grin. This unnerved the man even more

Redd let out a four-toned gasp as a kitten made its way to their side and attempted to burrow into their jacket. There were practically stars in their eyes. A big, idiot smile adorned their face until Percy moved the kitten back to her side. Carlisle grew a hunch.

“Do you think...Redd would want…” Carlisle droned on slowly, hoping to get the point across without saying too much

“Yes,” Thomas replied

“Would you guys be able to afford another mouth to feed? Cats are a bit high maintenance,”

“With your recent generosity, and Matty getting a raise of his own, I think we can get along. Besides, look at them, I’ve personally never seen them so elated,” Both Redd and Tommie were giggling like fools, “I don’t think you could convince them not to have one, and you couldn’t convince me either. What’s happier than a purring cat?”

“It’s not all purring cats and cuddles, you know,”

“Yes, but it’s going to add a lot of happiness to the household. Joy is something we have little experience in, and every bit counts,”

Carlisle was convinced. He smiled, “Well, you got me there. You have your eye on any certain ones?”

“I’m gonna let Redd decide for themselves. Maybe Tommie will have a say. It’s definitely going to be the only thing he talks about at school for a while, no doubt there,”

“Heck, maybe it’ll be the ONLY thing he talks about for weeks anywhere!”

**\---**

“Redd’s here!” Aubrey called back to the office, where a voice acknowledged her.

“Hey!” Carlisle came out of his hiding spot and gave his employee a high five, “What’s new?”

“With me, nothing,” Edd hung up their coat, “with Gringo, he sleeps on my face--”

“Normal cat stuff,”

“Right,” He slipped on their apron, “With Tommie, got an A on his spelling test. And with Torm and Matthony, they discovered Stranger Things last night,”

Aubrey’s head snapped to attention, eyes full of excitement and mouth in a wide grin, “Go on,”

Edd chuckled and Tom turned their face a bit pink, “It was about 9 or so, Torm clicking through Netflix, and that show caught his eye, Matty’s too. They watched the first episode, and then the next, and then the next. Thomas came out to tell them they had to go to bed, Matty especially, but they begged for one more episode. Thomas agreed, and we woke up with them still on the couch, wide awake, and the credits to the last episode rolling. Imagine Thomas’ disappointment,”

Carlisle gave a hearty laugh, “I can imagine!”

“Matty went off to work exhausted and hard-wired, and Thomas told Torm he was still going to be the one seeing Scribbs to the bus stop, regardless of how badly you want sleep. Just imagine an exhausted, delirious, and grumpy Torm standing out in the cold with a bunch of other kids, hoping and praying it isn’t late again,”

“Aw, but if you guys watched Stranger Things you’d understand why they stayed up so late,” Aubrey gave a mock pouty face

“Oh, I don’t doubt it’s a great series, it’s just that Matty’s got responsibilities and Torm’s gotta do something around the house. Personally, I think it would’ve been better if they’d watched a few last night, and then another few tonight, and so on; so it’s not over too quickly,”

“Not everyone has that kind of self-restraint, Tomato,” the man tugged on their sagging hairnet, reminding the fusion to pull it up and tighten it a bit

“No shock to us,” The door rang

**\---**

Hey Tomato,

Happy Birthday! I know, I know, it’s most likely not actually your birthday, but it’s the day you wrote down on your application. Have you ever celebrated a birthday? Have ANY of you celebrated a birthday? Well, if not, here’s to happy firsts! Enjoy the cupcakes!

-Carly

P.S: The little box with the striped bow is a little surprise something for Gringo

**\---**

“Torm, you’ve been playing that game for ten hours,”

“So?”

“When did you last shower?”

“Uh…”

“When did you last SHAVE?”

“Ehh…”

“Go. Shower. Now,”

“But Thomas! I’m almost to Ganondorf!”

“You’ll still be almost to Ganondorf after you take care of your personal hygiene. Andale,”

**\---**

“So Tomato,”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever been to the Bahamas?”

“What are you kidding, we’ve never left the country,”

“Would you like to, though?”

“What are you on about, Carly?”

(Tomato is handed a brochure for a week long stay at a luxury hotel for up to six people)

“Where did you get this?”

“I won a radio contest. You and your brothers could choose to go, or you could pass it up and I’d give it to another employee. I don’t see why you couldn’t, since it’s summer vacation for Scribbs and you all need to get out of boring ol’ Essex for a while,”

(Tomato is grinning stupidly)

“I thought so. You guys leave in a week. I’ll watch over Gringo for you,”

**\---**

“Is it focused?”

“Yes,” Matthony’s voice was dripping with annoyance

“Is it out of video mode this time?”

“Yes,” the annoyance grew

“Don’t forget to set the timer for 10 seconds,”

“Thomas, for Pete’s sake. I’ve got this,” he peered through the camera’s viewfinder, “Okay… Tommie, scooch in a little more, good. Torm, you’re blocking Redd’s face a bit, ok. Carlisle, you’ve got some crumbs on your cheek. No, other cheek. K, you got it. Alright, andd…” he pushed a button and began to hop back towards the couch, a timer beeping every second. Everyone held a smile.

“Meow!”

“Gringo, no!”

_FLASH_

///

Everyone was silent as the photo loaded onto the computer screen, and the silence didn’t break after the whole picture filled the screen. It wasn’t until Tommie began to giggle did (mostly) everyone break out in riotous laughter. The immaculate smiling poses of all six were broken by a certain white and grey cat jumping onto Carlisle’s head. Everyone held positions and/or looks of shock and/or concern, and in all honesty, it was pretty freaking hilarious.

Only one didn’t like it, and he was the only one not laughing, “Let’s take it again, we need a better photo than this,”

Torm was the first to try and speak against this, “Aw, c’mon, Thomas. It’s awesome! We should use it,”

“It’s fine, it’s just that we’re going to frame it and hang it in the living room. I want a decent photo for that,”

“Don’t be such a spoilsport, Tombo,” Carlisle picked himself off the ground and dusted off his jeans,

“I’m not spoiling anything, I’m just asking for a decent photo for our wall,”

“Alright, fair enough. Back on the couch everyone,” Matty set the camera back up and pushed the timer button

As the timer ticked down, the idea of making a silly face spread right under Thomas’ nose.

_FLASH_

“DAMMIT, YOU GUYS!!”

Eventually, it was the silly face photo that was hung on the wall.

\---

**_Time Lapse End!_ **

_Time passed: 10 months_

_Items get:_

Driver’s Licence  
Minivan  
Leather Couch  
New carpets  
Apple TV  
Wii-U//Super Smash Bros/Legend of Zelda, the Wind Waker/Call of Duty: Black Ops  
School year  
Personal devices/Minecraft accounts  
Computer/Printer  
Netflix account  
Gringo the Cat  
New mattresses  
Family photo 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw, what a cute chapter. Would be a shame if anything... Happened to them.
> 
> I just wanted a happy chapter that shows time going by and angst children being happy and familial. Writing this made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, but enough with that, time for things to go wrong.
> 
> One last thing; I never gave Carlisle a good, solid description of how he looks, and now, I don't think I will. I'll leave it up to the readers to decide what the man looks like. He can look like absolutely anything, but just know that the things that are canon with him are:
> 
> -Thin frame and wiry build  
> -Receding hairline  
> -He's 42  
> -Shorter than Tomato, but taller than the norm
> 
> And for things that have nothing to do with his appearances:
> 
> -Lost his virginity at age 16 to his girlfriend, who he later learned was cheating on him  
> -Never married, never had kids, but subconsciously pines for someone for him to dote on and spoil  
> -Lost both his parents; mother to sickness and father to car accident  
> -Has a sister; hasn't seen her in 20 years  
> -Loves both cats and dogs, but only has time for a cat
> 
> Tell me what Carly looks like in your guys' heads, I wanna know


	5. Drop the Shoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do we do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My, this was quite long-awaited, now wasn't it? Yeah, this chapter was quite the beast, lemme tell ya. Enjoy!

“Whassup, Car-Lay-Lay!” Edd called out as they stepped into the Starbucks with flourish, thrusting out their pelvis. Aubrey stifled her laughter in her hands.

Said man slid into view Risky Business style, “Not much, Pizza Sauce,” The two proceeded to act out their incredibly complex greeting handshake, most definitely inspired by the Parent Trap.

“I swear, you two are the strangest lot,” The girl had her hands on her hips and all her weight on one side, “A boss and an employee, as close as family,” She held her fingers up to form a frame, “It’s so odd it’s practically headline news,”

“Well it ain’t a new cryptid,” Edd flicked her fingers and broke the framing, causing her to give a half hearted kick to the back of their legs. They gave a chuckle in return, “But it’s not as strange as Carly sweeping the floor with his brand new hot pink socks,” They flashed the man a smug grin as his eyes widened and lifted his feet to see, to his shock, the socks were violently pink, “Where and when did you get those? Torm gift ‘em to you as a joke?”

“No, I made a washing error; my red jumper accidently got into my whites and turned them all pink, including these socks. I thought I had put them somewhere else, and I definitely thought my socks were beige this morning,” He slipped on his shoes, the pink disappearing into them

“Did you even turn on a light?”

“I haven’t in ten years, why would I do so now?”

“It may be a good habit to pick up, if you don’t like puffy pink clothes slipping onto you right from under your nose,” Aubrey added as three large men in security uniforms walked in, smiling and chatting to themselves. They ordered their coffee and sat back down

All was well. The morning passed, a few complaints about their coffee, one about a gigantic puddle of pee in the boys bathroom (someone had terrible aim), and another about not accepting expired coupons. Annoying, sure, but no different from every day. A few people from early on in their shift still around, enjoying the WiFi or chatting amongst one another; the inevitable hoity-toity hipsters, a young lady with a sketchpad and earphones in, the three men in security uniforms, a teen dozing against the warm window. Noon came and so did the lunch rush.

“Excuse me,” a little boy, around Scribb’s age, grabbed Edd’s attention at the counter, “There’s no more anything on that counter,” he pointed to the table that had the napkins, utensils, and whatnot. Well, normally did, it was devoid of all of that at the moment. Not good

“Oh, thanks for telling me,” the boy walked back to a woman, presumably his mom or sister, “‘Ey Aub,” Edd caught the girl’s attention, “gonna go get some more napkins n’ stuff for that counter over there, think you can handle a few more customers until I finish up?” She just shrugged, “Just keep doing what you’re doing, I’ll be back shortly,” They walked off to the back room.

Arms full of everything that table was missing, they got on to filling the napkin dispenser first. They were only vaguely aware of someone standing behind them until they spoke. Their cool voice silenced all other sounds to them.

“Hello, Reject 64-3,”

The strangely high pitched masculine voice pierced all four’s minds with shock and an icy cold tingle all through their body, which quickly gave way to panic. Their body began to tremble visibly, the familiar slimy feeling gripping the body, until half of the mind got pushed into a corner and shut out. A deep breath later, and instead of the body trembling, it was hunched over the counter, and letting out a ragged laugh.

“Hello there, Mister Eyepatch,” The Norwegian accent rolled off their tongue, quiet to everyone except the one-eyed man behind them, “Come downtown to enjoy some coffee?” Tord lifted their head

“Do not turn around, if you know what’s good for you,” His words made Tord freeze his actions and turn right back to staring at the napkin dispenser, “You will follow my instructions exactly. When I say so, you will follow me out of the store and into the van. I wish to create the smallest disruption as possible,”

“Do you not see the apron?” It was Tom’s turn, his voice dripping with poison, “We happily work here. Simply leaving will draw attention,”

“As I understand. That is why I said ‘as possible,’” They tensed as he heard Larry step closer, “Now come along,” They didn’t move. Larry stepped even closer, “Understand this, 64-3, while I do not wish to cause a commotion, I will not hesitate to raise hell if it comes to it. Whether you like it or not, you are coming with me,”

An unused part of them was awakening from hibernation, causing their fingers to tingle and their teeth to be set on edge, “I don’t think you’re aware of what we’re capable of,”

“I know perfectly well what you’re capable of. Did you think those three ‘security guards’ were here just to enjoy the atmosphere?”

Tom’s gaze twitched to the side, at least one of those supposed “guards” had fixed their gaze on them. He growled.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” Larry’s voice fell and grew excessively darker, “I am tired of you freaks putting up a fight; I’ve already been knifed today. You’re the last one we have to collect, and I am in dire need of some sleep. Come along, _NOW_ ,” Larry poked his weapon into their back, not that it mattered. They were trembling again, Larry noted, while making a guttural sound. A slight shift in something in his peripheral caught his attention, and Larry’s gaze snapped to it; their hands, and a good part of their forearms, had turned a dusty purple color. He raised an eyebrow quizzically.

It was then it hit him that the clone was growling.

A harsh, violet light blinded him for a moment, along with a flash of an angry red eye. Larry found his years of experience making him sidestep subconsciously, and just in time too. The clone raked purple claws through the air where Larry used to be, not yet processing that their target wasn’t there anymore. Larry took a pause to gaze at the clone.

There were splotches of that dusty purple on their face. That purple light from before apparently was coming from the clone’s single void eye. Not only that, Larry thinks as he lets out a cough, it’s emitting smoke. These thoughts go by in an instant.

The thing pauses itself, and turns to the side at the man, who now has rushed them and had jabbed a needle into their neck. Four voices cry out in shock and pain, before grabbing the needle, along with the hand holding it, and throwing them to the floor. Pain blossoms in Larry’s head first, then his ribs as he realizes the beast is holding him down. The clone’s face is screwed up in anger, large yellow fangs pushing aside their normal teeth with little rivulets of blood. They raise a taloned hand, but a hard THUD later the beast is gone from his view.

The clone had been tackled to the side and they fall less than gracefully onto the tile, the heavy pressure on Larry’s back alleviated. Good, those guards are doing their jobs. The eyepatched man picks himself and his needle back up, never minding the woozy feeling and bursts of black in his vision, nor the terrified crowd around him; they were busy just trying to get away.

Redd fought as a collective, all actions of pummeling the three men trying to subdue them agreed on. With their strength of four people, the three guards were tossed around easily. They were persistent though, getting up after being tossed away and trying once again to bring them down.

The fact that their hands were huge, now had four fingers, and were tipped with claws was lost on them in their rage drunk minds. However, if these men would just stay down, they could go after the one they really wanted: that sandy-haired, one eyed man across the room, simply standing and staring with his hands behind his back. It was infuriating.

But their rage was not meant to last long. A creeping sense of exhaustion was setting in, their joints refusing to move. There was sudden large shift in heaviness, the body getting harder to move. The smoke ceased and the light flickered out, the patches of purple shrinking and fading back. There was another shift, the knees beginning to knock. One of the men kicked them in the back of the knees, and they crumbled to the floor. It was Matt that realized that they were collectively being knocked out, one by one. The last thing he heard before fading to black himself was the sound of Carlisle calling out angrily.

“Hey!” The man’s voice filled the almost empty coffee house. He held out the only “weapon” in the store; a flare gun, “What do you think you’re doing?! Let them go! Leave them alone or I’ll shoot!” Try as he might, Carlisle couldn’t mask the quiver in his tone.

“Them?” Larry responded as one of the men hoisted the unconscious clone onto his back. Carlisle’s hair stood on end, “I gather you know. Apologies, but you’ll have to come along,”

Before the man could react, a rag was shoved in his face and everything went dark.

**\---------------------------------**

The sensation of touch is what surfaced first. He felt...heavy, like his muscles haven’t been used in a while. He curled his fingers, now aware of something cold and smooth holding his wrists down. He groaned, the full severity of what this could mean not hitting him just yet in his misty mind. He tried to pry his eyes open, finding dusty pain akin to sitting in the dark too long and now suddenly exposed to the sun. He closed them again, he wanted to go back to sleep; why not sleep in his old armchair a little long--

His eyes snapped open as the situation pierced his mental fog. Pure white light stung his eyes, obscuring what he could see, but his eyes still darted every which way. He writhed in his seat, the restraints on his wrists holding fast. There were bands across his midsection and ankles as well, he discovered during his panicked fit. His eyes began to adjust to the light, and his ears began to open. He heard ragged breathing, the notion that it was his own taking a small moment to register.

And that he wasn’t alone in this room.

“If I were you I wouldn’t panic,” the disembodied voice in front of him startled Carlisle at first, who looked up to see the back of the man. A curly head of sandy hair with a black band running through it greeted him, along with a solid black coat with hands curled behind it. “The bonds will not give way, so unless you want to break your wrists, I suggest remaining still,” His voice was hard but emotionless, undoubtedly masculine but strangely quite high pitched.

He was staring out the large window that took up the upper half the walls around them. Incessant beeping came from the control panels and modules from around the room, along with the whirring of machines, heard muffled sounds from behind the walls around them, “I am glad you’re awake, however. I was wondering if we had overdosed you on those tranquilizers,”

Carlisle’s panic gave way to frenzied rage as he remembered where he saw this man before, him thrashing in his seat more. Pain burst in his wrists and ribs, but he didn’t care, “Who are you?? Where are they? Where did you take them?! Where am I? What do you want with Tomato??!! I’ll kill you!!” he roared out as he thrashed and thrashed in his seat, wrists and ankles rubbed raw and ribs aching, but the chair didn’t even wobble a little.

The man gave a dark chuckle as he turned around to face his captive, “Kill me?” his smile was devilish, “please, the worst you can do right now is scream yourself hoarse,” His singular eye was a faded grey, as well as bloodshot. He looked like he hasn’t slept in quite a while, “And to answer your questions in no real order, you will refer to me as Larry, nothing else--”

“Is that even your real name?” Carlisle interrupted with boiling hate in his voice

“None of your concern,” Carlisle had hoped to get under his skin; wipe that emotionless smug look off his face. It didn’t work, “and I ask of you to please not interrupt me while I speak. You wanted answers, yes?” the bound man simply snorted, “As for where we are, location is classified. But what I can tell you is that you are in a laboratory; a testing chamber, to be perfectly precise,” Larry had turned around completely and had begun to carelessly swing his feet and stroll slowly towards the bound man. The casuality of all this was infuriating, “As for where your orange-haired, one-eyed…’friend’...is,” the hard quotes set Carlisle on edge, “they are with their kind; the Rejects of room 64 are back where they belong,”

“You took them all??!! Wha--!!” a sharp chill ran down Carlisle’s spine as realization hit him hard, “You...you’re the one. Y-you made them,”

Larry’s chest was puffed out, gaze aloof, and stride still that infuriating gait, “Yes, and no. It was not me who created them, it was my...superior,” there was a tone of distaste that told Carlisle that Larry did not truly work under this man, “He is an idiot,” Larry seemed to read his thoughts, “He is the only child of a rich man who died alone, wasting his riches investing in ridiculous rubbish, making terrible movies, and ‘inventing’ new automatons and doohickies,” The singular grey eye held as much deep-seated distaste as his tone did, but as he finished bashing this man, his gaze softened but did not get any nicer, “but still, there is a reason I stay,” a smile curled on his lips. Carlisle felt the heat drain out of his face, “Bing is a total knob, but amongst the idiotic and childlike machinations, he can create wonders,” by this time the sandy haired man had made a full loop around the restraining chair and was right back in front of his captee, back to him, “There is one in specific that...perhaps,” he turned around again to see the ashen face of a terrified man bound in a chair, “you would like to see,” 

Carlisle was not looking forward to this surprise. Despite every warning bell going off in his mind, telling him to get away, he was stock still. He wasn’t even shaking, only bound to a metal chair with the coldest feet he had ever had. Larry began to approach him again, face stoic once more save a mild grin.

It was total impulse, despite breaking sight of the crazed man in front of him the last thing he wanted to do, he squeezed his eyes shut. It was childish, he knew that, but he was more willing to see darkness rather than whatever horrors awaited him.

There was a slight push on the chair, and the sensation of forward movement met Carlisle’s senses. He perceived a brief flash of light as he opened his eyes a crack, but snapped them closed again in fear. He couldn’t stop the small yelp.

“We are just moving down the hallway,” Larry’s tone was like he was scolding a child, “what I mean to show you is in a different room,”

Carlisle slowly pried open his eyes, slowly adjusting to the white light to show exactly what Larry said; they were just moving down the hall. He looked down off the side of his chair, now noticing large and sturdy wheels. They made little sound as they rotated.

He studied his surroundings. Pristine, white walls, with only a few signs and arrows to break the monotony. Round in shape, it looked more like you were walking through a tube than a hallway

“You’ll find little interest in the walls of this place,” Larry pointed out, snapping the bound man out of his stupor, “It has been repurposed to confuse escaped specimens and keep them inside the facility. Staff have long since memorized the layout and so do not hold any maps or GPS units. Does that quell your curiosity?”

“...yes,” Carlisle simply mumbled out, “but if you don’t want me to look around, why are we walking in silence?”

“Oh no, we will not be walking in silence,” Larry turned slightly, just enough for Carlisle to catch the grin on his face, “We are about to pass a very specific wing of the labs, and I assure you, it is not silent,”

The implications of what he said alone were enough to send shivers up anyone’s spine. In context, however, was only made worse. Carlisle saw the break in the wall, signifying a connecting passageway, and true to Larry’s word, it was not silent

Pounding, yelling, shrieking, anyone could hear it. It was loud, and it was desperate, muffled as it was by the walls. For the most part, it sounded human, but there were the undeniable few sounds that could never come from a human. A gurgling, warbling screech sent a shiver down the bound man’s spine. 

Then he saw the sign, the sign that marked what this area was, and an icy shock ran through his entire system.

_SPECIMEN CONTAINMENT CHAMBER DELTA: IMPERFECTIONS  
ROOMS 1-100_

They were there, they were down that hallway somewhere. His family. Nervous energy was collecting in his extremities, ready to do whatever it took to get to them. 

**“THOMAS!! REDD!! I’M HERE! WHERE ARE YOU?!? TOMMIE?? MATTHONY!!”**

It took him a second to realize it was him that was screaming, and another second more to feel the excruciating pain in his wrists and abdomen. He was fighting against the restraints again, this time with less sense of self-preservation. His only goal was to get free and get to his family, regardless if he broke a few fingers and/or ribs.

There was a brief moment the banging in the rooms ceased before they started again. It may have been slight, but it seemed more fervent than before.

“Enough!” he heard Larry bark. More restraints whirred into existence, wrapping themselves around his neck and elbow joints, “Move again and your injuries will be more dire, understood?”

Unsuccessfully fighting back tears, the bound man weakly nodded. His body throbbed with the pain, and his eyes were blurred with tears. Through a watery lense he saw the hallway pass out of sight.

He only managed to squeak out a small “why?” before hanging his head and letting the tears flow freely. He lost track of time, only snapping out of his stupor when the chair lurched to a halt, choking him for a moment. He looked back up; they were stopped at an unmarked door.

“Are you paying attention?” Larry was glowering at his pitiful, tear-streaked face, but it soon grew to an unpleasant smile, “Good. We have arrived, and I want your undivided attention for this,” the door slid open, revealing…

Piles and piles of grey, stacked none so neatly inside.

“Behold,” he gestured his hand in like he was unveiling a newly carved statue.

The room was cavernous, only a few support beams barely in view over the mountains of the gritty grey something. A few machines were either bolted or hung from the ceiling, their purposes unknown. Carlisle raised an eyebrow, what was special about this pla--

Then the smell hit him. Eyes widening, he coughed and hacked. It was foul; a foreign, sugary sweet, musty smell of rot. It stung his eyes and clung to his throat, making him tear up again and expel a small bit of bile. Carlisle heard Larry chuckle.

“Is it not a delightful smell?” He took in a gratuitous whiff, exhaling with a look of contentment, “It’s a smell no one has ever smelled before. It’s a smell of scientific advancement!” He stepped in, the wheelchair following. Carlisle pushed himself against the back of the chair, trying in vain to not go into such a foul smelling place. The door closed behind them.

“Do you know what all this grey is?” Larry looked like a kid in a candy store, “Are you aware of what is before you?”

Carlisle could barely keep his eyes open, both because of the stagnant air and stinging nature of the air itself making him feel light headed, but he heard the man and lifted his head to respond,

“No, and please don’t enlighten me,” He lowered his head again to cough

“Oh no, dearest Carlisle,” Hearing Larry say his name shook him to full attention, “I didn’t bring you all this way just to show you the greatest scientific achievement of our time, I want you to guess. And do you really have a choice in the matter?”

All Carlisle could do in response was grunt in defeat. Eyes stinging all the while, he looked around while his thoughts buzzed for an answer. He gazed about for a minute or so, before it hit him. It hit him light a freight train. Upon seeing that the grey wasn’t entirely uniform in color, but sporting different colors, four very familiar colors, it all clicked together. More tears prickling at the sides of his eyes, he answered.

“Y-you’re a murderer, a monster. This is a room of flesh,” he hiccuped

Larry clapped, “You figured it out! Very good, Mr. Carly! You’d get a gold star if I had one,” His eye was wide open, gleaming with insanity, “Meet the very substance your ‘best mates’ are made of!” he thrusted his hands inside a pile with a sickening _SQUELCH_ , and brought it back out to show a handful of it to the bound man. Carlisle wiggled and clawed at his armrests in an attempt to not get too close to the vile substance. It was brought right under his nose, but by now his sense of smell was numb.

“Do you know what this is?” Larry chuckled excitedly, “Do you _KNOW_ what this is?” Carlisle whimpered in fear, “what I am holding is both organic and robotic but neither all at once. Like motherboards and tissue cells and yet it isn’t. It isn’t straddling the line between artificial and natural, it shatters it,” He let the compound slip through his fingers, it sifting out from between them like powder, “This is the blank slate to anything and everything you want it to be, anything at all! This...this is the power of God!” Larry wouldn’t hold back the ensuing maniacal giggles if he could’ve stopped them, “All you need to do is give it a code. What code, you ask?” Larry filled in for Carlisle, “Any code at all. It will accept simple binary, and form whatever the binary instructs it, or even,” He paused and contained his excitement, clearing his throat and standing upright again, “the code of all living things,”

“DNA…”

“Indeed,”

“The clone army, this is what’s left of them,”

“You’re catching on quick, Mister Carlisle! At this rate I could hire you as a scientist within the year!” The smile Larry was sporting would be considered genuine on anyone else other than him. He cleared his throat, “Yes, but this whole room is filled, and the ‘clone army,’ as you call them, were not numerous enough to count for all of it,”

The crimes of this man were so morally wrong that what his statement meant did not surprise Carlisle anymore, “Rejects, the ones that were messed up, they’re here too,”

“Yes,” his tone was now sorrowful, “even so great a technology as is before us is not without flaws. As with anything coded, and anything that would translate such code, there are glitches; defects. No matter where you look or how hard you try, there will always be little mistakes in anything sequenced. Even humanity nowadays is bursting at the seams with such defects,”

Carlisle flinched at this, but once again, not surprised

“It was to be expected, such results. I even foresaw the clone army fleeing after the movie was over, which Bing did not,” such disgust in his voice, “but what I failed to see was the Rejects finding a way to break out of this place and scattering all over the globe. Now it’s twice we made virtually the exact same mess, but this one took years longer to clean up,”

“You mean simply slaughtering all the lives you created,” At this point, the air in the room no longer stung Carlisle’s eyes nor stuck to his throat. Now he was just angry

“They do not ‘live,’” Larry spat back at the bound man, “they are nothing but a thinking substance acting out what a code tells them. They are walking AI. All I am doing is deactivating them, make the substance think they are dead, so they no longer have to act out the code they have been given. And so, they revert back to their original blank state, ready to be used again,”

“I have months of time spent with them that would prove otherwise,” It was his turn to glower at the other, “They think, they learn, they grow. They have their own personalities, they recognize their own reflections. You claim to be a man of science, tell me that doesn’t sound like sentience,”

“It is NOT sentience, it is merely puppetry of a learned behavior. Any simple minded animal or simply coded robot can do it,”

“How much time have you spent with any of them? What makes you think you know anything?”

Undeterred by Carlisle’s seething anger, Larry turned around and leaned in close, “Because I was there from the very beginning, you were not. I helped write the programs,”

That was all he could take. Drawing in a breath, Carlisle spat in his face. Larry reeled back, a grunt of disgust escaped his lips. He knew Larry must do something in response, slap him, tear some of his hair out, anything. It was fine, he was expecting it. That man had it a long time coming, any punishment was worth it. He hung his head a little, waiting for retaliation.

Nothing happened.

Carlisle looked back up, all Larry was doing was simply giving him a less than satisfying dirty look.

“What are you waiting for? Hit me, choke me, break one of my fingers. I just spat in your face, and you’re just gonna take it like a nobber?”

“I am shocked you haven’t picked up on it yet, quite frankly,” That annoyingly smooth and purring voice was really grating at Carlisle’s nerves, “I can read people like a book. I know exactly what kind of reaction you wanted out of me, and I am more than happy to oblige so. It’s just…” He leaned in again, this time out of spitting range, “it would give you cruel satisfaction, and I am not going to give you ANY of that,” He pushed against the chair before walking around it. The wheelchair lurched a little before turning around and following Larry out the door.

Exiting the Room of Flesh was a relief like no other. The air outside of it smelling akin to after rain. Carlisle found a small relief in the dank smell of the hallway, smiling as he breathed in the air. He knew it wouldn’t last long, but any happiness he found here was worth it’s weight in gold.

They were back in the observatory room a lot sooner than Carlisle expected. He knew the way to the Flesh room from here was shorter than the way they took arriving to it, they turned down a different hallway, but it was hardly any time at all.

“You really went out of your way to traumatize me, didn’t you, Cyclops?” He spat at the man’s back

His reflection from the glass visible, Larry showed no emotional reaction bar a slight tightening of his lips, “Truth is traumatizing sometimes,”

“Truth seems to be subjective,” Carlisle poured all his malice into this sentence, but it came out sounding quite comical to him

“Indeed,” A spark of something in the cavern below threw light across the man’s wan face, “Tell me, Carlisle,” He shifted a little, shoving his hands inside of his coat, “Why are you so insistent on your preconceptions? I have told you the truth, yet you deny them in favor of a lie that is more appealing to you. As a man of science I would like to know,”

Face hot with rage, he opened his mouth to retort, but found no words. For once, the bound man hesitated. Larry’s words were finally taking root in his mind, shoving his thoughts aside and burying doubt deep. He had a family, five brothers, for almost a year; he thought he really knew them, really saw them as people, humans, with personalities. Now, with Larry’s words, he wasn’t so sure anymore, not so sure if all the zany acts and humanoid reactions were nothing more than a learning system doing what it’s told. His mind seemed to grow cold with gloom…

Until he rejected it

Rearing his head with a newfound determination, he glared holes right into the reflection’s eyes, “Because humanity was once a simple minded creature, but evolved. Because even robotics are advancing, evolving. Because you created a substance that is made to acquire any identity and evolve to truly become it. You claim you’re a man of science, and once again you prove yourself wrong. No science experiment has a definitive outcome, things can always go off from what you expect, and that is a definitive result you can use. They may have started out as a biorobotic thinking substance, engineered to take on a command and act it out with progressively increasing effectivity, but along the way, something happened. Something that your ‘science’ seems to be devoid of. Humanity. Humanity happened. Curiosity, love, happiness, rage, sadness, kindness, personality happened. Your substance has evolved, Larry. Your substance is becoming something else. It’s thinking, and it’s thinking complex thoughts. It’s almost human. I’d even argue it’s more human than you,”

Carlisle felt something, something radiating off of Larry, something that betrayed his emotionless demeanor. Rage, pure and simple Rage. His hands were shaking inside his coat pockets, the only sign. Carlisle gave a smirk, he finally got under that man’s skin. There was going to be retribution this time, this time for sure.

Larry simply sighed. If he had been able to breathe fire, steam sure would have vented out of his nostrils, “More human than me, yes? Well, machinery will never be life. Do you honestly think that someday we will make robots capable of reproduction? Reproduction in similar ways true biologics can?” Carlisle was taken aback, “It is impossible. No matter how advanced robotics become, there will always be a finite number of them; they cannot replenish themselves after their joints rust and circuits fail. In that way, I am infinitely more human than they are, than they will ever be. What say you to that?” He turned around slightly, so the edge of his good eye was seen by the bound man

Carlisle realized he looked dumbfounded. He shook it off before replying, “I say you’re grasping at straws. There are plenty of humans alive today who cannot, for any reason, have children. Are they lesser? No. They think, they talk, they live, of course they do. You seem to miss the point I was trying to make. From what I can tell, you are a sociopath, and not even a high functioning one either. You make no emotional connections, and those are critical to the human condition. Physically, yes, what makes you up is true to everyone else. Mentally and emotionally, you are as lively as a corpse. I wonder what that makes me to you? Just the same as your ‘thinking biorobotic substance?’ Well then, let me say, I’d rather be dead than qualify as anything you deem ‘living,’”

A maniacal smile spread quickly on Larry’s face as he turned to face his captive, “There are the magic words,” He withdrew his left hand, it holding a black, sinisterly shaped object. Carlisle felt his face drain of heat and his stomach drop to his toes. Larry began to approach slowly, cocking the pistol just as agonizingly slow, “What I deem living is undesirable to you? Very well then, I shall fix that for you,”

Larry was taking his sweet time approaching him, no doubt drinking in the fear from his next victim. Carlisle’s insides bunched more and more as he approached, and couldn’t stop the squeak of perfect fear as Larry grabbed his hair and shoved the barrel into his mouth.

“Do you feel it?” Feel what? Terror? About to throw up? If so then yes, Carlisle was certainly feeling that way, “Do you feel it?” Larry said it more urgently, “The strange, preternatural feeling of unwinding?”

Carlisle had no more tears to shed, he was empty; all his eyes were now were stinging and misted. In all honesty, he had never felt this way before, and he knew he would never feel this way again; the grand fear of oncoming death, the fear itself finding ways to escalate and affect places that have never been affected before. There certainly wasn--

Yes there was.

The most horrible sensation gripped his entire frame, sending a jolt through him and making him twitch in response. It wasn’t anxiety, it wasn’t fear, it wasn’t any emotion, but the feeling of something akin to butter under a heat lamp, akin to ice on the hot concrete sidewalk.

It was the feeling of unbeing.

“Consider that the last truth,” There was the click of the trigger slowly being squeezed

He closed his eyes, waiting for oblivion

**CONTAINMENT BREACH. CONTAINMENT BREACH. CONTAINMENT BREACH**

The loud alarm startled them both enough to jostle the gun out of Carlisle’s mouth, and to cause a round to fire. Larry, forgetting his task entirely, turned around to the control panel flashing lights, a look of desperation on his face.

“Report, report! What is going on??”

Garbled static before another voice responded, “Specimen containment chamber number D-64 burst wide open!” a warbling roar along with a crash and a scream was heard in the background. The room shook slightly, “They’re morphed and annihilating us!”

Larry slammed his hand on the panel in frustration, mumbling words that were none too pleasant, “Fill them with tranqs. And if they don’t go down, shoot to kill. I’d rather clean up their grey matter than have them get out again,” Larry expected an answer, but one did not come, “Confirm,” static, “I said, confirm--!” The man on the other side of the line screamed as another warbling roar filled the com before the line went dead.

The room shook again, faint screaming heard even through the thick walls of the room.

“Dammit,” Larry reached over to another button, and the door and windows were sealed with heavy steel curtains. A second alarm went off, more lights flashing. He slammed down on another button, “What is going on?? Report, report! Someone answer!”

Fits of static before a strained voice answered, “They’re freeing the others! They’re bursting from their containments and fighting along with 64! Tranqs are ineffective!”

“Then destroy them. Destroy them all! Fill their bodies with lead! I want to see large piles of grey goop everywhere!”

“Understood, sir! Gotta g--!” The com was filled with an ear-splitting screech that not just overloaded the speakers, but could be heard quite well through the walls. Whatever it/they were, they were close.

Larry was hunched over the control panel, the flashing alarm lights illuminating his quivering form. Carlisle’s ears were shot out, but he could still hear his ragged breaths. Larry turned to face him again, “YOU,” His face was showing more rage and desperation than anyone would’ve thought possible, “Don’t think I forgot,” Grabbing the pistol again, the man power walked up to his captive again, this time sticking the barrel square between the eyes. The fingers didn’t go slow this time.

**_CRUNG-KSRR_ **

The sound of metal being torn open snapped Larry out from his determination. He barely had time to turn to see who it was before a screeching beast raked their purple talons down his side. The man cried out in pain as he was shoved onto the floor where he writhed.

The beast held a look of wild rage, but when they turned towards the man bound in a steel chair the expression softened.

It was humanoid, the overall shape was there, but it was certainly anything but. Huge, purple paws where the hands should be, tipped with curved purple talons; feet similar, tearing through the jeans it wore; wan face covered in blooms of purple hide; one red eye bloodshot thoroughly, the blank eye socket spilling a glowing purple smoke; large, yellow fangs sticking out from behind their human teeth, said teeth pushed aside at wacky angles to accommodate them. They were covered in blood, most likely not all theirs.

Carlisle called it brother.

Redd approached him quickly. Despite himself, Carlisle squeezed his eyes shut. The claws brushed passed his raw skin.

“Cahlm down, thar,” The voice wasn’t at all stable, but the nightmarish mishmash of all four voices agreeing to say the same thing; it was warped by the new dental, “VVe’re getthing you phree,”

Carlisle heard a metallic _POP_ , and opened his eyes a crack. One restraint on his wrist was broken and twisted outward, effectively freeing it. Redd’s gigantic paws held onto the other, and Carlisle watched as they effortlessly _POP_ ped it open.

Within the minute Carlisle was free to stand. He stood up immediately and began to break for the door, before everything went dark and he felt himself falling. When he came to again, he found himself in the bloody arms of the clone.

“Eazy does ith,” Redd quickly escorted Carlisle to the door, where a few flying sparks rebounded off the broken door and stopped them in their tracks.

“Dritt! Stay here, Carly!” They leaned him against the door frame, “Gapher your energy, you’re gonna haff to run when we cahll ya,” and with a bestial shriek, Redd jumped out into the fray.

Carlisle’s entire body was trembling and weak, but slowly his energy reserves were filling up; he was now able to stand on his own.

“You...traitor,” Larry’s weak and strained voice was heard over the carnage outside the room. Carlisle lifted his head to face the struggling man. Three long and large wounds cut into his right side, coming dangerously close to his good eye. The blood puddle he was sitting in was growing, “Betraying your own, biological kind in favor of mimics,”

Carlisle has had it up to here with this man. He has enough energy for one last retort

“I’d rather be associated with the likes of them than ANY groupings that include you,”

**\--------------**

The RV rumbled down the early morning road in relative silence, the only noise inside it the sound of the engine working and the light snoring of the exhausted occupants. Behind them three other RVs followed, two about the same size as one another, the other absolutely gigantic.

Inside was quiet, yes, but not the pleasant kind. It was the stiflingly tense quiet of questions wanting to be asked, but not wanting to be answered.

Thomas and Matthony were asleep on the kitchen table couch, resting their heads on one another; they bobbed up and down with the imperfections of the road. Little Tommie was asleep in Thomas’s lap, curled up and clinging desperately to him. Thomas, in turn, held his arms around him in a protective embrace.

Torm and Redd, however, were not asleep but quiet. They all watched Carlisle’s death grip on the wheel, it jostling every now and again with his shaking-like-a-leaf-in-a-thunderstorm arms. His gaze hasn’t deviated from the windshield once, but the faint reflection the windshield gave showed his expression, one of mortal terror, hasn’t shifted either. Wondering if he was aware of anything was a valid question.

Torm and Redd gave each other a look, and with a slight head nod each, Redd approached the man.

“Carly,”

Redd’s voice startled him to the ends of the earth and back, hands flying off the wheel and shoulders jumping a mile. He couldn’t stop the startled cry. After gathering himself again, hands back on the wheel, and panting heavily, Carlisle turned his gaze a bit towards the clone

“Yes, Tomato?” He feigned casuality

“Carlisle,” Redd had long since grown stable, their own voice was especially striking when he was being serious, “something’s bothering you,”

The man scoffed, “Look at our situation, not exactly stress free,”

“That’s not it and you know it,” Through his rear view mirror he could see Redd crossing their arms in disdain

“We all know it,” Torm added

He hesitated for a moment, “And what clues give that away?”

“You haven’t said a word since we lifted these RVs, you’re white-knuckling the steering wheel, you’re trembling like an epileptic, and you’ve had the same look of fear for the past two hours,” Redd made sure their words were especially striking

“Has it really been two hours? Might need to pull over and get some gas soon…”

“Carlisle,” Redd had their hands in their face, “you have a gigantic chip on your shoulder that everyone can see, no foolin’. What. Is wrong?”

The man lowered his head slightly in defeat before turning to look at Redd directly in the eyes. The mismatching blue glass eye was still a bit off putting. He turned around again and sighed.

“That’s just it, this...whole thing. Everything about all of this, it’s…” he struggled to find the right word, “so massively overwhelming. It’s all crashing down on me; the adrenaline’s wearing off,”

There was a moment of silence

“That makes sense, but that’s not all of it, is it?” Torm added as he shifted positions

“...no,” He let out an even bigger sigh, “it’s...my time with Larry. H-he said someth-thing to me...”

**FLAAAAAAAAAAAASH BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!**

_“I’d rather be associated with the likes of them than ANY groupings that include you,” Carlisle spat with all the venom he had left_

_Larry lowered his gaze to the floor, letting out a repeated wheezing. It became apparent it was laughter as it grew louder, eventually almost matching the chaos from around the corner_

_“What??” Carlisle spat back, Larry continuing to laugh, “What’s so funny??”_

_The bleeding man controlled his hysterics, “Ohh, I was hoping you’d say that,”_

_Carlisle had enough energy to stand free of the frame now; he took a step towards the man, “What?? Out with it, ya wanker!”_

_Turning his gaze upwards towards Carlisle again, he cracked a grimacing smile, “Carlisle Williams is dead,” The words pierced hard and deep, all other noise going quiet to their ears. The only thing that existed now are the room, and his words._

_“I bet you can figure out what that means,”_

_“CARLISLE, NOW. NOW!!”_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Larry??” Redd’s voice held disbelief. They scoffed, “I wouldn’t hold any stock to anything he says. Quite the knobber, he is,”

“No, o-of course, i-it’s just that…”

“C’mon Carly, as smart as that guy is, he looks too closely at everything to see anything,” He could hear the smirk in Torm’s voice

“But I do guess that whatever he could show you, and/or tell you, would be pretty harrowing,” Redd’s tone was inquisitive, “The stuff he n’ Bing dabble in are less than savory at best,”

_An understatement, Tomato_

“True, b-but that’s not important,” Carlisle hurried to shift the topic, “that’s mine to sort out, so don’t worry about it. What we all should worry about is what’s gonna happen next,”

“Alright then, that’s true,”

“So what is the plan for what happens next?”

Carlisle hesitated before giving a humorless chuckle, “In all honesty, I think it’s out of my hands now. Whatever happens next, is as Fate would have it,”

“Fate’s a cruel mistress,”

“Yeah,” he said through a sigh, “I know,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do Redd and Torm's stable voices sound like? Think old school Game Grumps, with JonTron as Redd.
> 
> Was that quite the bomb I just dropped? I sure hope so, I had that in mind since I thought this story up. I wanted it to be as shocking as possible; hope I did good.
> 
> Yes, this is the end of this story, but WORRY NOT! There is an epilogue I have in mind! Just...don't hound me for it, ok?


End file.
